Geobus visit

Doon Academy pupils and staff were delighted that the Geobus project run by the University of St Andrews visited the school. The Geobus staff ran sessions with S1, S2 and S4-6 Science and Geography classes.

S1 pupils looked at ‘Fascinating Fossils’, they were invited to look and touch real fossils which are hundreds of millions of years old.

S2 pupils were ‘Monitoring Volcanoes’ where they looked at how geologists are able to predict an eruption using instruments such as infra-red cameras.

S4-S6 pupils were studying ‘Fluvial Processes’ and were given the opportunity to design their own river settlement. It was a very successful day and pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Thank you to Mrs. Elder and Ms. Kerr for arranging the event.

Goodbye to Mrs McRoberts

Pupils and staff bid a fond farewell to DHT Lyndsay McRoberts who is leaving us to take up a post at Kyle Academy. Everyone wishes her every success.

Health4Life Project reunion in Doon Academy

As part of the school’s Comenius ‘Health4Life’ project, 12 teachers and 19 students from our partnership schools in Belgium, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Spain will be visiting the school for a project meeting Monday 16^th April to Friday 20^th April. During their visit they have a full programme of events beginning in the school on Tuesday 17^th April with a welcome assembly followed by the Comenius Walk in Dalmellington and a welcome dinner in the evening. On the Wednesday they visit Edinburgh Castle, and a meeting with the Minister for Education Mike Russell at the Scottish Parliament. Robert Burns Birthplace and Museum is on the itinerary for the Thursday followed by a farewell Ceilidh in the school in the evening.

New minister visit

Doon Academy’s pupils and staff were very pleased that the new minister for the Doon Valley, Reverend Fiona Wilson, visited the school to meet everyone. This was the minister’s first visit to the school and she was warmly welcomed when introduced at year group assemblies.

Staff changes

Until the end June, Mrs. Stewart will take up the post of Acting Depute Head Teacher and Mr. Power will be Acting Principal Teacher of Business Education and ICT.

Recycling Project

The pupils in the Supported Learning Centre are organising a recycling project for drinks containers. East Ayrshire Council has provided bins for the cans and bottles and these will be placed around the school. The pupils held an assembly to promote the use of the bins. Well done to them all for such an enterprising idea.

La Francophonie Competition

Mrs McKenzie’s S3/4 masterclass pupils entered an online competition and are excitingly waiting the results. Every year, French speaking countries throughout the world celebrate “La Francophonie”.

This year, The Institut Français d’ Ecosse together with the Alliance française de Glasgow organised, on Wednesday 21 March 2012 from 12.45 to 2pm, the online competition about “Vive la Francophonie/ Discover the Francophonie” for S3-S4 pupils in Scotland.

Our pupils found that this was a good opportunity to apply important skills for life and work; as they had to work in a team, use ICT- quick and efficient Internet research - and their French language skills.

Plants for sale

As part of the BESC project S1 -S3 Biology students and the Science Club masterclass are going into business. They bought gardening supplies and, taking advantage of the sunny weather, have created a range of products.

For sale we have: Tomato, Sweet pepper and chilli plants - £1.50 each  Herb Garden window boxes containing 3 herbs- £ 12; Colourful planters - £15; and Hanging baskets - £15.

These are on sale in school. Anyone wishing to purchase these should contact Miss Borthwick on 01290550521

Easter School

Easter School for all senior pupils will run on Tuesday 3rd April, Wednesday 4th, Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th April 10am to 12 noon and 1pm to 3pm. Pupils may attend all sessions and bus fares will be reimbursed for those with appropriate receipts...S4 study leave starts on the 26th April and S5/6 go on study leave on the 11th of May All new S5 and S6 pupils return to school on the 6th of June.

Dairy dates

Dates for your diary. S3 Parents Evening Thursday 3^rd May, S1 Parents Evening Thursday 24^th May, P7 CfE/’Burns by Bonnie Doon’ Friday 25th May, Blackpool Trip Thursday 31^st May, Barcelona Visit Sunday 17^th June to Saturday 23^rd June, Prize giving Wednesday 27^th June.

Health4Life Reunion in Portugal

As part of the school’s Comenius ‘Health4Life’ project Ms. Miller, Mrs Bax and pupils Lauren Kennedy and Sharon Renwick visited Marco de Canaveses in Portugal for a project meeting.

Mrs Bax has provided us with a report on their visit.

“The reunion in Portugal went really well. We had fantastic weather, warm and sunny, a terrific welcome from our hosts, and a busy and interesting programme.

On Monday 12th March, we had a welcome ceremony in the school where we were introduced to everyone and the students met their host families.

On Tuesday 13th, the visiting teachers and students with a group of Portuguese students and teachers took a trip to Porto, where we had a guided tour of the main sights of the city, the students had a picnic lunch in the park and then we all had a tour of the Palaicio da Bolsa, followed by a trip on the River Douro and a visit to a port cave in Gaia.

On Wednesday 14th we all did Marco de Canaveses Health4Life Walk along the river bank with lovely views, then we were taken to nearby Tongabriga, a Roman city, where we had a fascinating tour by
a local archaeologist. In the afternoon we visited Guimares, which is European City of Culture 2012. There we had a tour of the old town, a look at the castle and a tour of the Royal Palace.

On Thursday we held our project meeting in school and discussed global citizenship. In the afternoon we had a tour of Marco De Canaveses conducted by tourism students from school. On Thursday evening there was a farewell party with entertainment in school. We saw folk dancers and heard several traditional music groups.

We were very sad to say goodbye to all our new friends from Portugal and our other partnership countries of Belgium, Greece Poland and Spain at the end of the visit.”

Dance success

East Ayrshire’s annual Dance Festival took place on Thursday 15th March at the Grange Academy and three of Doon Academy’s pupils took to the stage to shine on the night. After the group dropped from eight pupils to three pupils, it looked like there would be confusion on stage and potentially we would have to drop out but the girls rearranged positions, practised until their muscles ached and ended up making the dance look truly professional on the night.

Dancing to Tik Tok by Keisha, Cheryl Allison, Shania Brown and Alana Murray looked like trained experts as they showed off their dancing skills on stage. As well as dancing skills the girls helped with hair and make up backstage as Dalmellington Primary were also there performing on the night. The girls’ practice and hard work paid off as compliments rushed in telling them how wonderfully they had performed.

Well done to the three girls who should be proud of themselves for representing Doon Academy in such a mature and professional manner.

S5/6 Parents Evening

The S4/5/6 Parents Evening will take place on Thursday 29th March 5.30pm - 7.30pm and staff are looking forward to meeting  parents to discuss their child's progress, as the SQA exams are only a few weeks away. Also the evening will give parents an opportunity to discuss their child’s future options.

Scottish Engineering talk

Head Teacher Mr MacKenzie was delighted to welcome to the school Dr Peter Hughes, Chief Executive of the Scottish Engineering Employers’ Association.
Dr Hughes gave an inspiring and motivating talk to S3-S6 pupils, and those in S2 who will be studying engineering in the school.
Everyone really enjoyed Dr Hughes talk and he was presented with a photograph as a memento of his visit by School Captain Lauren Mitchell.

Blackpool

The annual school trip to Blackpool will take place on Thursday 31^st May.

New sculpture

The Art Trail sculpture designed and built by Doon Academy pupils and local willow sculptor Geoff Forrest has now been installed on the Craigengillan Estate. The sculpture is an amazing piece of work and thank youto everyone who helped design and build this lasting exhibit.

Netball success

On Wednesday 7th March Doon Academy travelled to Loudon Academy for two netball games. It was the junior school’s time to show off their netballing skills and they did not disappoint. The first team got off to a roaring start with Doon scoring in the first minute. Cheryl Allison and Amy Mitchell then managed to get another shot on target taking the score up to 2-0. Loudon made a quick comeback and scored two goals making the score even. Savannah McMahon controlled centre court with many impressive interceptions and with Rebakah Copeland and Melanie Connell helping out, the ball quickly made it back to the shooters who scored again taking them into the lead at half time.

After a drink of water and a team talk from coach Mrs Ferrie, the girls were willing and ready to take on Loudon as the second half commenced. Alana Murray and Brook Paulin played well throughout the entire game which resulted in Doon winning 9-4.

Well done to Savannah McMahon who received Player of the Match.

Fishing trip

The Fishing Masterclass had a great day on the Belston Loch fishing for rainbow and brown trout. Well done to all the pupils and Mr White who caught 4 fish. Commiserations to Mr. Kelly who ‘caught a cold’ but no fish!

USA Sunshine Hall of Fame

Congratulations to former pupil and renowned golfer Pamela Feggans who was inducted into the USA Sunshine Hall of Fame. Pamela is currently on the European Tour and we wish her well.

Driving safety

6th year pupils attended a showing of the film, and presentations, on ‘Reckless Driving Wrecks Lives’ at the Odeon Cinema, Ayr. This annual event was established to make those who may be learning to drive or who have just started driving think about the impact of their driving behaviours.

FOCUS West Art visitors

As part of the FOCUS West project, two art students Ailsa and Steven, from the Glasgow School of Art have been in school working with pupils on their SQA folio work. They have also been in the art master class working with junior and senior pupils and with 3G class who are designing a mural , based on a Pop Art theme, for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Fairtrade Fortnight

Thank you to Mrs Elder and her Higher Geography pupils who raised £196 during Fairtrade Fortnight by selling craft items and holding a Fairtrade tuck shop.

Willow Sculpture

In the Art Department, over the past 10 months, pupils have been working with local willow sculptor Geoff Forrest on a new design. The large sculpture based on pupils’ ideas is now completed and everyone is looking forward to the unveiling of the completed piece.

Spring Spectacular Concert

Congratulations to Paige McMahon, Alex’s Dearie, Bethany McGhee, Cheryl Allison, Leigh Boyce and Becky Inglis who have been selected to perform at the East Ayrshire Spring Spectacular Concert which will take place in the Grand Hall, Kilmarnock on Wednesday 21st March.

Maths Masterclass

The Maths department were delighted to welcome to the school Professor Adam McBride, former head of mathematics and statistics at the University of Strathclyde, who delivered a mathematics master-class to pupils in S3 and S4.

Topics covered included magic squares, the "1089" trick and why the next number in the sequence 2, 4, 8, 16 might not be 32!

Thanks go to all the pupils who made Professor McBride's stay an enjoyable one. To find out more about the topics he discussed, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_squares

BESC launch

On Wednesday 29th February Doon Academy launched its Business Enterprise Skills Centre (BESC). Councillors and invited guests were treated to an overview of our Leadership course and the Fashion and Textile master class by Mr Richardson and Miss Fuller. It was then over to School Captain, Connar McCallum, who got the audience, motivated with some leadership games. The guests took part in some "speed dating"; visiting various groups of pupils who discussed Enterprise activities they had undertaken. Mrs Gillespie and her team then served canapés and cakes to finish. The BESC centre will allow Doon Academy to give our pupils many new and exciting opportunities in Art, Technical and Leadership. We are also planning projects which well develop our pupils’ skills for work.

Ayrshire Burns Clubs Schools Competition success

Congratulations to Fiona Kennedy and Kirsty McCormick who gained 1st and 2nd place at the Association of Burns Clubs Ayrshire Schools Competition in the S3/4 Instrumental section. Well done to Robbie Uriarte, Chloe Chalmers, Daniel Dutton and Lauren Young who all gained certificates.

Word millionaires

In our Accelerated Reader programme. We have two new word millionaires this month from S2, Katie Burrell and Rebekah Copeland, and one S1 pupil Melanie Connell, is nearly there. Katie has read 1,302,374 words this year and Rebekah has read 1,294,051. Congratulations to our Reader of the month for March Scott Boyd in S2.

Diamond Wood

Doon Academy will soon be involved in an exciting project to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Craigengillan Estate in Dalmellington has been chosen as one of sixty sites in the U.K where a ‘Diamond Wood’ will be planted. The project will be led by the Woodland Trust and will involve the planting of 60 acres of woodland. Pupils will be involved in the planting of the trees and the woodland will provide an outdoor learning environment for the school for many years to come.

History Author visit

As part of the Spring Read programme S2/3 History pupils visited Grange Academy to hear a talk by renowned author Allan Burnett. His talk was on the key themes in Scottish history related in his books, but he also spoke about the wider world of history. Mr. Burdett incorporated an awareness that certain themes, e.g., Wars of Independence, The Reformation, World Wars 1 and 2, are increasingly being taught in history classes in secondary schools. He also discussed how history can help us in a range of other subjects and disciplines, because they all have a history of their own. The law, economics and politics, in particular, all depend on an understanding of history if they are to be practiced and advanced at the highest level. Everyone found his talk very interesting and informative for their history studies.

Art on Literacy Wall

The Art department is March's contributor to the Literacy Wall. S3 pupils evaluated a painting or design and wrote a brief report of their findings. The best pieces of work were written by: Lorelle White, Naomi Allan and Jordan Goodwin. Congratulations to them!

Cookery success

Doon Academy pupil Amy Gibson has done both herself and her school proud whilst competing in an Ayrshire Schools competition organised and held at the Cook School Scotland.  Having been successful in the East Ayrshire heats with her very own spaghetti carbonara recipe, Amy proceeded to the finals where she competed alongside nine other pupils from across Ayrshire. 

The competition required pupils to design, cost and produce a seasonal main meal for two people within a budget of £5.  

Amy’s final dish was paprika chicken with winter vegetables.  This competition has been an excellent opportunity for Amy in so many ways and has really helped inspire her enthusiasm and creativity. 

Burns Museum trip

The S1/2 Burns Recitation prize winners had a wonderful visit to the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. They were met by Education Learning Officers Esther and Hannah and then had a tour of the Burns cottage and a workshop on Tam O’Shanter. Esther then accompanied the pupils on a guided walk, taking in the Auld Alloway Kirk and the Brig O’Doon. At the museum Rebecca, the museum guide, led a further workshop on the life and works of Burns and a tour of the interactive museum. The pupils really enjoyed the visit and as S2 pupil Alana Murray said’ It was great. I really liked the hands on things at the museum’. S1 pupil Daniel Dutton said’ If we take part next year in the competition can we have another visit’. Thank you to all the staff at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum for making the day one to remember.

S2 Parents Evening

Our S2 Parents Evening, on Wednesday 22^nd February, was very busy for our teachers with many staff commenting that they had good discussions with parents about the new S3 broad general teaching options.

Valentine's disco

The Valentine’s disco was held on Thursday 23rd February and although attendance was low everyone had a very pleasant evening. After two late nights some of our staff were delighted that it was the weekend.

Martial Arts success

Congratulations to S2 pupil Wendy Roulstone who won a bronze medal in the Martial Arts under 55kg competition.

Goodbye to Mr Jamieson

Our local minister Iain Jamieson gave a talk to S4 pupils at the Friday assembly. This was Mr. Jamieson’s last official engagement with us as a new minister has been appointed. Staff and pupils presented Mr Jamieson with a gift from the school as a thank you for his hard work in building links between the school and church and for his thought provoking talks. We all wish him a fond farewell.

Rugby trip

40 pupils from Dalmellington Primary and Doon Academy attended the Scotland v France rugby match. Everyone had a fantastic day despite the disappointing final score..

Science roadshow

The science department held a roadshow for S2 pupils to help them choose their science options for next year.

Cricket news

Congratulations to Josh Taylor who has been selected as the school cricket team captain and to Rory Parker selected as his vice captain. In the single wicket competitions Steven MacKay won the D.V.C.C. senior single wicket competition beating James McCreath in the final. In the junior competition Aaron Gilmore beat Colin MacDonald in the final. Well done to everyone who took part in the events.

Jordanhill visit

As part of the FOCUS West project, 26 S3 pupils visited the University of Strathclyde, Jordanhill Campus, for a campus day. The pupils took part in a series of workshops designed to increase their knowledge of university life and team building skills. Everyone really enjoyed their visit and found the workshops motivating and enlightening.

Trip to Dolphin House

The adventurous pupils in the Supported Learning Centre will be spending the day, 23rd March, at Dolphin House near Culzean Castle. They will be combing the beach for wildlife, having an adventure in the local caves and trying rock climbing.

DofE Award activities

In the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award scheme several of our participants are well underway with their enterprising skills section of the programme. Marina and Nicky are offering free manicures to the residents of the local elderly care homes. Blair and Craig have set up a branch of the Cumnock Credit Union. Rachel and Kaitlyn are running a Smartie tube collection to help Bulgarian orphans and Katie and Lorelle are decorating and marketing dental hygiene. We wish all our participants well as they work towards their next stage of planning their expedition.

Peer Education Project

The first training day for the S6 Peer Education Project took place on the 24th February. It consisted of building confidence skills in the morning followed by an afternoon information session on alcohol and solvent abuse. A great day was had by all and everyone is looking forward to day 2 to be held at Auchinleck Academy.

University of Glasgow visit

FOCUS West Top-Up students in S5/6 visited the University of Glasgow for a seminar on note-taking and a lecture. The students found the visit very interesting, and informative.

Author visits

For the Spring Read Programme organised by EA librarians the S2/3 History pupils will be visiting Grange Academy to hear a talk by renowned history author Allan Burnett. Also, the Art Book Club pupils will be visiting Auchinleck Academy to see author and illustrator Teresa Flavin.

Electrical circuits challenge

Principal Teacher of Science Mr Gooding was delighted to welcome P3 pupils from Dalmellington Primary who attended Doon Academy to complete the electrical circuits challenge.

Diary dates

Dates for your diary: East Ayrshire Spring Spectacular Concert 21^st March, S4/5/6 Parents Evening 29^th March, Comenius Visitors 16^th to 20^th April.