RREC video

This is a short video of S2 pupils participating in the Rapid Response Engineering Challenge in May 2010.

Prize Giving

Our Prize giving was held on Friday 25th June 2010 in the Assembly Hall. The guest of honour was Mr Jack Paterson, ex-Headteacher of Dalmellington Primary School.

Prize List 2009-2010


1st Year Prizes

General Excellence
John Anderson
Halle Fitzsimmons
Kirsty McCormick
Stephanie Carrick
Progress Prize
Christine Flemming
Iain McWilliam
Accelerated Reader
Lauren Kennedy

2nd Year Prizes
General Excellence
Lauren Young
Varri Murdoch
Lauren Shaw
Fraser Buchanan
Robbie Uriarte
Hazel Limond
Progress Prize
Tammy Reid
Accelerated Reader
Mark McLean

3rd Year Prizes
General Excellence
Lisa McTaggart
Hayley Bone
Rosie Coles
Paige Collins
Alistair Paton
Kirstie Millar
Progress Prize
Mark Wilson
Gavin Memorial Prize
Heather Dunn

4th Year Prizes
General Excellence
Lauren Mitchell
Rhianne Jones
Progress Prize
Jennifer Phillips
Graeme Davis
Gavin Memorial Prize
Kyle McCormick
5th and 6th Year Prizes

George Barnes Prize for General Excellence
Lisa Teasdale
Melissa Napier

Bequest Awards
Robert Brown Memorial Prize for Art
Aimee McKnight
Larissa Stirling
James Weir Memorial Shield for French
Kyle McCormick
Mrs Anderson's Home Economics Prize
Kieran Mullen
Stephen Roos Memorial Prize for Physical Education
David Burrell
Cecil Oughton Cup for Technical Education
Lisa Teasdale
Cecil Oughton Cup for Music
Claire Connell
The Gordon Douglas Memorial Prize for Science
Claire Connell
Excellence in Social Subjects
Claire Connell
Excellence in Maths
Claire Connell
Excellence in Higher English
Claire Connell
Excellence in Intermediate 2 English
Marie Reid
Excellence in Intermediate 1 English
Paula Glancy
Excellence in ICT
Gail Johnstone

Special Awards
The Michelle Murray Prize for Special Achievement
Joseph Wagstaff
Vocational Education Prize
S3 Jordan Kane
S4 Nathan Gilmore
Stephen McClymont

John Muir Award
Caroline Crosby
Tammi Drynan

Award for Services to School

S6 Prom Committee
Lee Orr
Sarah Reid
Ashleigh Thomson
Stephanie Roberts
Chloe Wallace
Amy Fairbairn
Jake Bunyan
Kelsey Dunn
Laura Sym
Melissa Napier
Jennifer Pettigrew

Craigengillan Art Prize
Tazmyn Hearton

Dux – Hunter Stewart Memorial Prize
Claire Connell


The BBC Radio Scotland Community Cup (Trophy donated by the Royal Bank of Scotland)
S4 ASDAN/College Group
Kevin Meechan
raser Cameron
Kieran Mullen
Christopher Murray
Thomas Jones
Conner Boyle
Logan Collins
Jack White
Lee Miller


Sports Trophies – Athletics Championships

The Thomson Trophy for Junior Boys
Robert Brown
Runner Up
Jamie McLatchie

The McIntosh Trophy for Junior Girls
Rachel Boyce
Runner Up
Paige Fleming

The Royal Bank of Scotland Trophy for Intermediate Boys
Michael Harvey
Runner Up
Mark McLean

The Alpine Trophy for Intermediate Girls
Lauren Shaw
Runner Up
Claire Boyd

The Joseph Kirkland Trophy for Senior Boys
Stewart Steele
Runner Up
Dillan Dunn

Doon Valley Athletics Trophy for Senior Girls
Connie Hose
Runner Up
Stacey Chalmers

David Stevenson Sprint Trophy
Dillan Dunn

Sean Carson Senior Boys Javelin Champion
Stewart Steele

Cricket Player Of The Year
James McCreath

Netball Player of the Year
Lauren Shaw
Jade Scott

Doon Academy Rugby Trophy
Connor Halbert

Golf Champion
James Mulholland

Swimming Champions
Junior Girls
Alex’s Dearie
Junior Boys
Rory Dempsey
Senior Girls
Bronwynn Dempsey
Senior Boys
Kyle McCormick

Interhouse Shield
Doon

Barcelona

The school visit to Barcelona was a great success – all staff and pupils involved had a fantastic time and staff commented that the pupils were a credit to the school. Amongst the wonderful sights they visited was the Sagrada Familia, a giant cathedral designed by the master architect Antonio Gaudi, the famous Nou Camp home to the Barcelona Football Team. Other attractions were the Picasso Museum and Marine Land. Everyone is already looking forward to the next trip in 2 years time!

Goodbye to Mr Kavanagh

Doon Academy staff and pupils bid a fond farewell to our History probationer teacher Jamie Kavanagh. Mr. Kavanagh fully embraced Doon life, including coaching the pupil football team, accompanying the visit to Alton Towers and playing in the staff Friday evening football matches. He will be missed by everyone at the school and we wish him every success for the future.

Chef's Apprentice competition

Congratulations to Jack Allsop who came 4th in the East Ayrshire Chef’s Apprentice Competition. Jack prepared a home made pizza with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, sweetcorn and peppers.

UWS Computing trip

Mr. Richardson in Physics and Mr. Power in Computing accompanied senior pupils on a visit to the Computing and Science departments at the University of West of Scotland Paisley Campus. The pupils took part in workshops and were able to see what courses are on offer at the university.

Under 18 football trials

The Under 18 Football Team Trials will take place after the school holidays on Thursday 19th August 3pm to 4.30pm.

Biology field trip to Culzean

Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Biology students had a very interesting and informative day at Culzean Castle. They worked on activities on shoreline woodland ecologies linked to the Biosphere Topic.

New Teachers

Two new probationer teachers, Emma Cooke and Angela Mendy, will begin teaching, in August, in the Maths Department. Also joining the Maths department is Callum Dunlop who is transferring from Cumnock Academy. We warmly welcome them all to the school.

Alton Towers

The annual visit to Alton Towers took place in blazing sunshine and everyone had a terrific time visiting the park and experiencing the enthralling and exhilarating rides.

Inter-House Sports Challenge

The school Inter-House Sports Challenge was hotly contested with Finlas winning the junior football, Bradan the netball and Raecar the cricket.

The overall winners were Doon house and Paige Collins and Bradley Kirkwood received the trophy on their behalf. Well done to all pupils and staff who took part in the afternoon.

Wider Achievement assemblies

Congratulation to all pupils who achieved their Wider Achievement Certificate at a special school assembly to recognise their success. Their reward was an ‘Inflatable Day‘ where they took part in activities including Gladiator Duel, Pole Jousting, 2 Lane Bungee and the Special Cage.
Thank you to Mr. Richardson and his Wider Achievement committee for organising the event.

New term dates

Pupils and staff will finish for the summer on Tuesday 29th June. Teachers return for an in-service day on Monday 16th August and pupils return to school on Tuesday 17th August. We wish everyone a wonderful summer holiday.

Prom night

Doon Academy’s inaugural senior prom, held at the Western House Hotel, was a wonderful success. The MC for the evening was former Head Girl, from 1996, Lorna Dempsey who quizzed everyone on the school’s current events and awarded the prizes for ‘Cheeky Chappie’ to Duncan McCluskie, ‘Drama Queens’ Kyle Stewart and Kelsey Dunn, ‘Best Dressed’ Aimee McKnight, ‘Star Girl’ Stephanie Roberts and ‘Star Boy’ Lee Orr.

Pupils, staff and guests had a delicious meal of Tomato and Basil soup, Chicken served with Vegetables, Chocolate Torte, Coffee and Chocolates. Everyone then danced the night away to the melodic sounds of ‘Waterfront’. Congratulations to everyone who attended and made the evening such a special event. Thank you to the Prom Committee for their superb organisation of the evening, Lorna Dempsey for being a splendid MC and to the first-class staff at the Western House Hotel.

For more pictures go to the photo gallery.

OYT sailing voyage

7 boys and 2 girls from S3 and S4 went on an Ocean Youth Trust Scotland sailing trip to the Outer Hebrides last week. They sailed from Kerrera by Oban to Lockaline the first night. Then on Tuesday the crew had a very long and demanding sail to Dunvegan on Skye which took 18hrs and they anchored in Dunvegan Bay at 5am in bright sunshine. After a rest and a trip ashore to see the sights of Dunvegan they headed across the Minch to Vatersay and anchored in the bay. On Friday morning they had a trip ashore and a walk along the beautiful white sandy beach on Vatersay. Friday afternoon they left and sailed back across the Minch again heading for Tobermory. They arrived into Tobermory harbour late on Friday evening and on Saturday morning had a chance to go ashore and explore “Balamory”. Saturday afternoon they made the return journey down the Sound of Mull to Kerrera. On this last leg, some of the crew took charge of dropping and stowing the sails. The whole trip was about 265 miles. Four of the crew who have sailed before gained their RYA Competent crew certificates, Jack Allsop, Garry Anderson, Nathan Gilmore and Amiee Nutt. Dennis Coles, Craig Pettigrew, Logan Collins, Scott Grozier and Stacey Willison all achieved their RYA start Yachting certificates. They arrived back in Dalmellington, worn out at 8.30 Sunday night. Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to Mrs. Bax and Mr. Tomlinson for accompanying the pupils.

For more pictures go to the school photogallery.

Cricket success

Congratulations to the school cricket team for reaching the semi-final of the Scottish Plate Competition. Doon Academy won by 72 runs against St. Ninian’s and will now play Airdrie in the semi-final. Good luck team – fingers crossed!

Southern Upland Way Walk

During the summer holidays, Art teacher Justine Fuller will be walking the Southern Upland Way, with her father, to raise funds for the local Ayrshire charity Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA). The walk is 212 miles from Portpatrick on the South-West coast to Cockburnspath on the East coast and they plan to complete the walk within 14 days. Staff and pupils wish them both every success.

Inflatable Day

The Wider Achievement Group has planned an inflatable day on Thursday 24th June, as a reward for pupils who have received their Certificate of Achievement

Bowls

In PE the S1 and S2s have been at the local bowling green learning how to play bowls.

Oral Health

There will be oral health checks at the community centre and Doon Academy pupils will be performing a street dance based on the theme of oral hygiene.

"Go Play " helpers

10 S2/3 pupils are going to work and help children at the ‘Go Play’ adventure scheme at the zone. They will be hill-walking, building dens and fishing. The aim of the project is to help improve the pupils’ communication, physical, emotional, and health and well-being skills. We wish them well in their adventures.

Aerobics Challenge

On Thursday 10th June, the new S3 girls took part in an Aerobics Challenge at the Galleon Centre. Paige McMahon, Raegan Heggie and Annabel McTaggart spoke to news report about their day. “The 3 events were swimming, aerobics and ice skating. When most of the girls were in swimming the other girls were copying them and the elderly people at water aerobics. There was a water slide which was great fun. After all the girls were out of the pool we went to aerobics. Aerobics was hard work because we had to do lots of different dances like mambo, cha cha cha and the grapevine. Jade Scott got a compliment on her hard work in aerobics. After aerobics we went to McDonalds for our lunch. Some of the girls got free balloons with different sea animals on them. When we had finished our lunch we went back to the Galleon centre, to ice skate. All the girls had to hand their shoes over to the assistants and they gave us our skates, a size bigger than usual. After skating for a while Raegan put money in the jukebox and put Meatloaf on for us to ice dance. When Miss Griffin blew her whistle we all came off the ice returned our skates and went back to the bus. It was a really great day.”

P1 story time

Dalmellington Primary School’s P1 class, with their teacher Mrs. Gormanley, visited Doon Academy to hear stories read to them by S2 pupils. The stories were all from the short list for the Kate Greenaway Medal, which is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. After the readings the pupils all enjoyed their juice and biscuits. The P1s voted for their favourite book, ‘There are Cats in this Book’ by Viviane Schwarz which was read to the class by S2 pupils Demi McCreadie, Rachael Maxey and Robbie Ogilivie. Well done to all the readers and to the P1s.

Art visit to Littlemill Primary

Mrs. Humes and Ms. Fuller from the Art department accompanied by S3 pupils visited Littlemill Primary to work with the primary pupils on art design. Everyone had a really informative and interesting day. Kath Crombie Head Teacher of Littlemill Primary said” I hope we can indulge in further partnership working at another time.”

Induction days

All P7s from our Learning Partnership schools visited Doon Academy for a 2 day induction on the 9th and 10th June. The pupils attended the classes they will be in from August.

Virtual Author Visit

On Thursday 17th June the author Michael Morpurgo will be appearing in an online live event to pupils at Doon Academy as part of Authors Live from the Scottish Book Trust in partnership with BBC Scotland Learning. He will be talking about his illustrious career and what inspired some of his most famous work,

Promotion

Congratulations to Mrs. Brooksbank, Principal Teacher of Science, who was successful at interview for the post of Depute Head Teacher at Girvan Academy. Mrs. Brooksbank will take up her new position in August.

Ayrshire Athletics Winners

Doon Academy pupils excelled at the All Ayrshire Athletics Championship Finals held at Dam Park. Stuart Steele 1st Javelin 2nd 100m, Dillan Dunn 1st 100m, Lauren Shaw 2nd Discus 3rd Javelin, Michael Harvey 2nd 400m 3rd 100m,
Stuart Paulin 2nd Javelin, Annabel McTaggart 2nd Shot, Stacey Chalmers 2nd 100m Hurdles, Paige Fleming 2nd Javelin, N Gilmore 3rd Discus, Robert Brown 4th Discus. Congratulations to everyone for these fantastic results.

Burns by Bonnie Doon

The ‘Burns by Bonnie Doon’/P7 Literacy and Numeracy Day was held on Thursday 27th May and was a tremendous success. P7 pupils from our Learning Partnership primary schools: Bellsbank, Dalmellington, Dalrymple, Patna and Littlemill took part in a round robin of 6 workshops. At the Doon Valley Museum the P7s had a workshop on the life and works of Robert Burns with Mr. Wilson and made willow trees with local artist Geoff Forrest assisted by Ms. Fuller, student teacher Ms. Forrest and S1 pupils. Back at Doon Academy the P7s had workshops in ICT with Mr. Power, French with Mrs. McKenzie, Maths with Ms. McClue and Ms. Laughan and Literacy in the Library with Mrs Bax. Everyone really enjoyed their day. Thank you to Mrs. Lohel and Mrs. Dorans for organising the event and to all the staff and pupils who took part.

Ctiizenship graduates

Damien Slocombe, Tommy Campbell, Ross Mellis, James McCreath and Stuart Paulin were the most recent S1/2 graduates from our Citizenship programme. The pupils completed a ten week after school activity session which included car maintenance and recycling; a community litter pick and a garden improvement site. Two senior pupils, Logan Collins and Craig Pettigrew, also received certificates for their work as mentors with the younger pupils and for assisting in the engineering activities. Congratulations to them all and we wish them every success in the future.

New timetable

The new class timetable began on Monday 7th June and all returning S4/5 pupils, who have been on study leave for exams, should now be in school. There is a change of SMT responsibility for year groups. DHT Mr Mackenzie is now year head for S2, S4 and S6. DHT Mrs. McRoberts is now year head for S1, S3 and S5. Head Teacher Mr. O’Rourke has responsibility for school captains and prefects.

Prisoner of the Inquisition

The S2 Media group have submitted their film ‘Prisoner of the Inquisition’ to the Page-to-stage Theresa Breslin competition. The film is set in Spain in the 1490s during the time of the Spanish Inquisitions and the film script was written by S2 pupil Lauren Young. Good luck everyone - fingers crossed!
To see the film look further down the page.

Barnardo's visitors

Staff and pupils are delighted to bid a warm welcome to Fiona McCaig and Nikki Finlayson from Barnado’s who are visiting the school to discuss the work of Barnado’s to all S2/3/4 pupils during their PSE classes. Fiona and Nikki are also going to be running a drop-in centre every Friday during lunchtime and mentoring to support our pupils.

OYT trip

10 pupils accompanied by Billy Tomlinson and Kirsten Bax are hoisting their sails for the annual Ocean Youth Trust voyage. The group will be setting out from Oban and sailing to different ports around the Scottish coastline depending on the weather conditions. The weather forecast is good but we know how quickly that can change. Bon Voyage everyone!

Wider Achievement

The Wider Achievement Group, chaired by Mr. Richardson, has organised achievement assemblies for Monday 21st June to recognise and celebrate pupils’ achievements in school and in the wider community.

Barcelona

The school visit to Barcelona begins at 5 minutes past midnight on June 13th – pupils and staff are busy packing! They are all really excited about the trip and look forward to having a great time.

Prize-gving

Doon Academy’s Prize-Giving will take place on Friday 25th June.

Prisoner of the Inquisition

The S2 Media Group's entry for the Random House competition to dramatise the beginning of The Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin.