Greenwood Academy

Oct 10 2008 by Elis White, Irvine Herald

A NUMBER of pupils from S2 to S6 met five elected members from North Ayrshire Council when they visited the school on Wednesday, October 1. They gave a presentation on aspects of the life of the school, including the Marketing Apprentice, XL, Fire Reach, Pupil Council, Virtual Work Experience, Transitions DVD, Malawi, and recent trips to Valencia and Paris, as well as senior pupils’ responsibilities and committees. The emphasis was on taking learning beyond the classroom and the skills and confidence which pupils develop from such experiences.

There are a number of school sweatshirts and school PE T-shirts in the lost property department. If they are not claimed by the October break they will be donated to a worthy cause. The lost property is open Monday and Wednesday during the lunch break.

A group of sixth year pupils were at the Menzies Hotel in Irvine, where they were given a slide show and demonstration by the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and Strathclyde Police on road safety. The pupils were shocked at the statistics they were given on the amount of young drivers responsible for road traffic accidents. This event was to highlight the problems with young drivers and emphasise the need for a dramatic change to take place when driving in order to save lives.

Thirty four attended the careers fair at the Volunteer Rooms on Friday, where there were representatives from local businesses, colleges and apprenticeship training in attendance to advise fifth and sixth year pupils on career choices. Pupils found the fair informative and had a great time.

Six S4 pupils accompanied by the librarian attended a “meet the author” event at the Greenwood Teachers’ Centre on Friday, September 26. Jan A Henderson, author of Royal Mail Award shortlisted book Bunker 10, gave a very entertaining talk about his life as a writer. Pupils involved in the Royal Mail Awards read all the shortlisted books and then vote for their favourite. Thousands of young people across Scotland are involved in the voting, which takes place in November.

On Saturday, October 4, Mr Keachie and a group of pupils attended the Salvation Army Hall in Golspie Street, Glasgow, to listen to an evening of music from a top London Salvation Band. A fine performance was enjoyed by the audience.

UCAS applications have now started, especially for the early applications – medicine, vet medicine, dentistry and the music conservatories – which need to be completed for the October holiday. Guidance staff are well aware that it is difficult to access predicted grades, but we require these for the pupil’s reference. We appreciate the prompt return of pupil reference forms from subject teachers to allow us to meet the deadlines set.

Pupils wishing to take part in the Ayrshire Schools Swimming Championship should register for the event, please give your name and details to Mrs Syme, PE.

The yearbook team are looking for any interesting articles or jokes for the next yearbook. If you would like to add anything to this, please hand it in to Miss Dunstall in history, S19, or Miss Scott in admin, S11. Thank you.

All girls in S1 to S6 interested in playing basketball are invited to the basketball club which takes place on a Friday lunchtime. All ability levels welcomed. Pupils are asked to have their lunch in the atrium and be prepared for a 1pm start.

Last Thursday saw the start of the Ayrshire Junior Chess U16s and U18s tournament. Greenwood have some hopefuls in each of these age categories. The chess club’s numbers are still very high and are consistently around 40 members every lunchtime. The draw for the Scottish Schools Chess Championship will take place next week. Greenwood have entered three teams for this year’s tournament and are hoping for a favourable outcome, though there is ferocious competition from up north, with Aberdeen and Inverness both sporting teams.

The Perfect Day DVD will be on sale in the Atrium every day this week at interval. A copy costs £2, of which 50p will be donated to the Malawi fund. If pupils cannot purchase at interval please see Miss Dyet in Guidance.

“Construct Your Life, Engineer Your Future” was the title of the drama presentation done by the “Theatre &” company on behalf of ECITN. All S2 pupils got the opportunity to see this on the morning of October 3. The two actors and actress involved engaged the pupils well and the presentation gave them a great insight into construction and engineering careers in a “fun and enjoyable” way. Three pupils were delighted to win MP3 players – Alix Paton 2M1, Kieran Orr 2W1, and Andi McInnes 2G1. This was the first part of the S2 options programme.