Burns Club new president

Congratulations to S3 pupil Robbie Uriarte who has been elected as President of Doon Academy’s Burns Club we wish him every success in his post. Thank you to Past President Lesley Baird who has superbly performed her duties for the Burns Club. Good Luck Lesley we wish you well in your future career.

Army work experience

Five girls from Doon have been selected for the challenging Army work experience training camp at Garelochhead. Raegan Heggie, Amy Fulton, Annabel McTaggart, Paige McMahon and Danielle Wilson will be attending 9th to 13th May. Have a good week girls, it sounds like a great experience.

Royal Wedding menu

Rena Riggans and her catering team in the school cafeteria prepared a special Wedding Day menu to celebrate the Royal Wedding. There was a delicious ‘William and Kate’s’ special prawn salad, followed by Balmoral Chicken and St. Andrew’s Mess for dessert.

Blackpool trip

Any outstanding money and consent forms for the trip to Blackpool must be paid to Ms. Fuller by Friday 13th May.

School nurse

Lorraine Ferguson, the school nurse, holds a clinic on Wednesday afternoons at the Doon Valley Health Centre. No appointment is necessary just drop in to see her.

Galloway Activity Centre trip

Tuesday 26th April saw a group of S3 pupils from Doon Academy visit the Galloway Activity Centre on Loch Ken to try their hand at sailing before their voyage with Ocean Youth Trust Scotland. They had a lovely sunny day and a great time out on the water in funboats. The morning session was an introductory one so the pupils could gain a feel for sailing. They did so well that the afternoon session was spent racing! Unfortunately a number of pupils capsized and were cold so the session finished early. An excellent introduction to the joys of sailing.

Prizegiving

The school’s prize giving will be held on Wednesday 15th June in the afternoon. Our former pupil, Kirsty Hill, who is now the President of the Queen Margaret Union at the University of Glasgow, will be our guest speaker.

Cricket vs Hillhead

Doon Academy’s cricket team will be playing against Hillhead School in the 2nd round of the Scottish Schools’ Cricket Cup at Prestwick Cricket Ground on Thursday 5th May from 1pm. Good Luck boys.

English Dept commended

The English department has passed the verification of Intermediate 2 and Higher Language Study unit. In addition, the department was commended for the administrative handling of the process and for the variety and quality of tasks in writing. Well done.

Study leave

S4 pupils begin study leave on Thursday 5th May and S5/6 on Thursday 12th May. All returning pupils should report to school on Monday 6th June.

Swimming Champions

Congratulations to S1 pupils Connor Blain and David Grace who were 1st and 2nd respectively, in the Junior Boys Swimming Championships and Robyn McCluskey and Kirsty McCormick who were 1st and 2nd respectively in the Girls Championship.

Scottish Boxing Champion

Congratulations to S4 pupil David Burrell who is the Scottish Boxing Champion for 2011 at 38kg weight. David, last year’s champion at 36kg, gained his title by defeating his opponent in a stoppage in the 3rd round of his bout.

Mardi Gras Celebrations

S1 pupils at Doon Academy celebrated Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) by having a big festival of fun, games and dance! An interdisciplinary project involving the departments of Modern Languages, Art, Music, Home Economics and P.E took place over several weeks. In Modern Languages, pupils researched the history of Mardi Gras around the world and made PowerPoint presentations and posters for the festival. In Art, pupils made wonderful masks, which they wore in the Mardi Gras parade at the festival. The two pupils with the best masks were crowned King and Queen of the festival. Wendy Roulstone was voted as Queen and Kieran Madden as King. In Music pupils learned to play some Mardi Gras style instruments to accompany a musical item, which they performed on the day. In H.E. pupils made French crêpes which were enjoyed by all and our P.E. teacher taught everyone a funky salsa dance! The school librarian and senior pupils recorded the event. The school canteen prepared a fabulous Mardi Gras lunch for the whole school, which was very well received by all. This event was part of the new Curriculum for Excellence projects for S1 pupils and will hopefully be repeated again next year! As the Mardi Gras slogan says - "Let the good times roll" at Doon Academy.

OYT Young Leaders

Congratulations to S4 pupils Jack Allsop and Garry Anderson who have been accepted on to the Ocean Youth Trust Scotland Young Leader Programme. Their Challenge Voyage will be to the Faroe Islands. The boys are undertaking a number of fund raising activities to raise the funds for their voyage.

Acting Head Teacher

Depute Head Teacher John MacKenzie has been appointed as Doon Academy’s Acting Head Teacher whilst Mr. O’Rourke is absent on sick leave.

Focus on Families

The West Forum recently launched the new Focus on Families website www.westforum.org.uk/families. This online resource aims to help parents understand more about how their child can progress to further or higher education.

Health4Life visit to Belgium

As part of our Comenius ‘Health4Life’ project, Mr. Lynn, Ms Fuller and S3 pupils Frazer Buchanan, Connor Halliday, Tammy Reid and Jade Scott visited Belgium for a project meeting. They met with teachers and pupils from our partnership schools in Belgium, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Spain and took part in various activities relating to the project. One key activity was the Health4Life Debate where each country entered a team of 3 consisting of 1 teacher and 2 pupils and debated various issues relating to healthy eating, sport and exercise. Everyone had a wonderful trip and the meeting was a great success. The next project meeting will be in Poland 9th to the 13th May where the main focus will be on learning foreign languages.

FOCUS West Campus Day

The FOCUS West Campus Day for S3 pupils will be held on the 12th May at the University of Glasgow. 30 S3 pupils will tour the campus and learn about life at university.

Most Active Schools Award

The Supported Learning Centre has been nominated for the Ayrshire Sportability ‘Most Active Schools Award’ for their participation in several new initiatives in partnership with Active Schools. We would like to thank Nicola McCormick for presenting us for nomination. The announcement will be made at the Charity Ball on Saturday 7th May – fingers crossed. Also the SLC will be running weekly adventure walks and fishing outings to local locations to provide challenge and enjoyment to their learning experiences. Recently pupils undertook a spring project through outdoor experiences and created an information board on the signs of spring. This type of learning will now be more common place with the SLC pupils. Bring on the sunshine.

Careers Advice

West Forum recently launched the new Focus on Families website (www.westforum.org.uk/families). This online resource aims to help parents understand more about how their child can progress to further or higher education. The website continues to evolve in response to feedback from users, and we expect the site to grow further in future

Mardi Gras Video