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Ellon Academy Community Campus

‘Personal Best’

Rector’s News Letter October 2018

Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s),

As we come to the end of an extremely busy term, I am delighted send you this newsletter to inform

you of some of our pupil successes and school news. There are so many things to celebrate and be

proud of and our pupils and staff continue to fly the flag for Ellon Academy and the community.

At Ellon Academy, our School Aims below summarise the key themes for development and

improvement in our school. We use these aims to set a strategic direction in taking the school forward

to support all of our learners on their journey through secondary school and beyond.

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Our Parent Council

Snow Clearing Equipment - Our Parent Council have been so supportive and ably led by Mr Simon Ruddy, have launched a crowd funding campaign to buy snow clearing equipment for the winter months. Aberdeenshire Council are fully committed to clearing the road approaches to the school, but the campus itself is our responsibility. The kit that we used for the previous school is very old and at the end of its life and really not fit for purpose for this huge campus, so we are encouraging everyone to support us with in partnership with our Parent Council to raise enough money to purchase new equipment to make the campus car parks and paths safer for all who use them. Please use the links below to support us. https://www.gofundme.com/snow-clearing-equipment

https://www.ellontimes.co.uk/news/community-urged-to-get-behind-fundraiser-1-4802824

Parental Impact Team

Fantastic Pupil Achievements in "The Ellon Academy Memorial Community Garden" (TEAM CG).

Pupil success was celebrated with an awards ceremony in the garden. TV presenter Jim McColl attended last Friday afternoon to give pupils their awards and visit our community garden.

To support us in increasing Parental

Involvement we have formed a Parents

Impact Team with members of the

Parent Council and over the next few

months we will be looking at how we

improve communications and how

parents can support Growth Mindset at

home to further support our pupils in

school. Watch this space

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S1 Global Citizenship Days – September 2018

S1 pupils had an excellent Citizenship and Work-Related Learning day in September about The Global Goals for Sustainable Development. #worldslargestlesson

Pupil Voice….You Said, We Did!

We listen. We care. We get things done.

On Wednesday 26th September we held our annual Pupil Conference. Pupils had a variety of tasks including

working in groups looking at The Ellon Academy Pupil Leadership Framework, ‘How Good is OUR School’

(Pupil Version) from Education Scotland and aspects for school improvement. Well done everyone!

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Careers Convention 2018

On Wednesday 3rd of October Ellon Academy hosted its annual Careers Convention which was very well attended by pupils, parents/carers and staff and thanks to all the providers and partners who gave up their time to support our young people when thinking about future career pathways.

Success in the World of Sport at Ellon Academy

Football

Recently 3 of our S3 pupils Aidan M, Connor N and Mark T were selected for the U15 Aberdeenshire Football team, and we are delighted to inform you that Bradley B, Caleb J and Rhys C have also been selected for the Senior Aberdeenshire team. Well done to you all.

Last week Ellon Under 13s had an impressive Our Senior Boys also had a good game

10-2 victory against Turriff Academy. resulting in another impressive win

against Turriff Academy seniors.

Success for our S3 Boys

Footballers against Meldrum

with a 6-0 win. Goal scorers

were Ruairidh, Robbie, Aidan

and Ryan.

S2 Boys - Ellon Academy Vs Gordon Schools. 5-0 win for the boys!! Through

very windy conditions, the boys fought hard and played the ball well on the

floor, creating lots of opportunities. Cameron M made some outstanding

saves. Goal Scorers: Grant M 1, Aedan G 1, Luca M 1, Xander H 1, Harry C 1.

Man of the Match: Cameron M. Well done!!

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Interhouse Competition

Cheyne House were the winners of our Interhouse Basketball competition. Well done!

Winners of this year's Interhouse senior netball was Keith House.

Well done to all who participated and gave their personal best.

Ellon Junior Girls Netball

Ellon Juniors continue to

excel! They won 29-7 against

Albyn. Always demonstrating

great attitude, effort and

commitment. Well done!

Junior Girls football

Ellon 9-6 Peterhead.

Scorers Millie U 8, Iona F 1

Player of match Millie U.

Well done girls!

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Winners of the 2018, S1 Interhouse football was McDonald House. Well done!

Biathlon Well done to everyone competing in the biathlon yesterday. Everyone worked so

hard in both run and swims. Ellon Academy won the under 13s Girls team event and the under 19s

team event. Special mention to E. Currie, E. Astley and A. Goodbrand who won the

individual event for their age category.

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Sports Colours Awards 2018

On Wednesday 10th October the annual Sports Colours awards took place in the Ellon Academy Theatre and was

attended by proud pupils, parents, carers, friends and staff. Our Higher and Advanced Higher Senior Dance

pupils gave a stunning practical display of their work and gymnastics display and all credit to Lucy Conner who

choreographed the routine.

Pupils have been awarded Half Colours Full Colours and Full Colours with Distinction as an accumulation of

participation and leadership in EASA affiliated sporting activities and are proud to wear their new ties in

recognition of these achievements.

Thanks to Mr McLachlan DHT who opened the evening with inspiring words and to Mr C Wood, PE Teacher who

piped our pupils into the Theatre. Our guest speaker Mr Alex Duncan who is a Depute Head Teacher at

Bucksburn Academy and an experienced and celebrated Rugby Coach, gave an inspiring address and we were

honoured to receive a very special surprise guest Scottish/Team GB Olympic swimmer Hannah Miley who spoke

of how impressed she was of our pupils and staff in the Health and Wellbeing Faculty. Thanks also is due to our

Hospitality pupils and staff who provided lovely cakes and refreshments after the ceremony and to all the Health

and Wellbeing staff, EASA Committee and Mr C McLean for making the event so special.

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Evening of Entertainment 2018

Once again a huge team effort brought together an amazing night to remember to raise funds for Ellon Academy. These funds will go towards elective activities for all pupils, the S1 Camp, the Accelerated

Reading Programme for all pupils in S1, our Wider Achievement Programme for S1 – S3 pupils, school swimming from S1 – S6, resources for our S3 Entrepreneurship day, revision Evenings S4 – S6,

resources for our S4 Mock Interviews evening, resources for Education and Industry Links, our Careers Convention, the Peer Support Training Programme S5/S6, Pupil Induction S1, S5 and S6, S5/6 School

Ties, S4,5,6, Work Related Learning resources, Water bottles for all pupils, Library guest speakers and resources for lunchtime activities (Craft clubs etc), badges for prefects, class reps, senate reps, pupil voice groups, S6 School Prom support and the Rector’s Pupil Hardship fund. Pupils and staff were

exceptional in their various roles to make the night very special indeed! Thank you all!

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Information for Parents/Carers

Dress Down Day to raise funds for Breast Cancer - Friday 12th October

End of Term 1 - Friday 12th October (last day)

Start of Term 2 - Monday 29th October (First day back)

S6 PSE Day - Wednesday 31st October (am only)

Shakespeare Festival - Thursday 1st November

Youth Philanthropy Class Finals - P5/6 Friday 2nd November

Mock Interviews - Monday 5th November

S1 Pastoral Parents Evening - Wednesday 7th November

S3 Entrepreneurship Day - Wednesday 7th November

Armistice Assemblies - Friday 9th November

In-service days - Mon 12th and Tues 13th November

S1 Family Learning Evening - Wednesday 14th November

S6 PSE Day - Friday 16th November (am only)

S5 Safe Drive, Stay Alive - Tuesday 20th November

Youth Philanthropy Finals - Tuesday 20th November 7pm

S4 Parents Evening - Tuesday 4th December

Senior Citizens Christmas Lunch - Wednesday 5th December

Swimming Gala - Friday 7th December

S5/6 Parents Evening - Monday 10th December

Music for Christmas Concerts - Wed 19th and Thurs 20th December

Christmas Services - Friday 21st December

End of Term - Friday 21st December

Start of Term 3 - Monday 7th January

If parents and carers and having difficulty using the Xpressions App for communications, please email the following address for support direct from the company. parentsupport@groupcall.com

Here’s a recent quote from a satisfied parent who contacted them for support:

“I just wanted to let you know that I've been having a really good experience with the XPressions support team. I've been having a nice conversation via email with a man who tells me I've managed to find a bug in the system and they are pushing out an emergency update to fix it. He has been really helpful.”

Looking forward to another successful and productive term.

Yours in partnership,

Pauline Buchan Personal Best

Rector