Young Musician of the Year

Doon Academy’s ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competition was a tremendous success and everyone really enjoyed the evening. The Master of Ceremonies was former pupil Lorna Dempsey and the adjudicator was Archie Hutchinson. Guest artistes were last year’s winner Tazmyn Hearton and the Dalmellington Junior Band conducted by Ian Taylor. Thank you to Band Leader Hugh Johnstone MBE who donated the winning trophies. This musical extravaganza featured 24 outstanding competitors who sang and played a variety of musical instruments to the delight of the audience. The winner was Tommy Campbell with his rendition of Stars and runner-up was Dennis Coles .The audience choice prize was awarded to Paige Collins. Fiona Kennedy was Music Student of the Year; Kirsty McCormick most improved instrumentalist and Alex’s Dearie as most improved vocalist. Congratulations to everyone who took part in the event. Thank you to Mrs. Rae Principal Teacher of Music and Music Instructors David Sullivan, Barbara Lee and Gary Patterson for all their hard work, dedication and expertise.

Teacher of the Year nomination

Good Luck to Head Teacher John MacKenzie who has been nominated as Teacher of the Year, in the Cream of Ayrshire Awards, for his sterling work and first-rate leadership of our school. Pupils and staff wish him every success.

S1 Pupil Council

S1 pupils have elected their class representatives for the school student council. Congratulations to Nicole Cuthill, Scott Kennedy, Jack Sommerville, Brooke Paulin, David Murphy, Jade Ferguson and Saffron Wightman.

East Ayrshire Maths Competition

In the Maths department pupils are busy revising for the East Ayrshire Maths competition to be held at Cumnock Academy.

Operation Christmas Child

Anne Parnaby, from Operation Christmas Child, is visiting the school to speak to S1 pupils about filling shoe boxes with goods to send to needy children in the Ukraine.

Staff Appointments

Congratulations to Physics teacher Martin Richardson on his appointment as temporary PT of Leadership and English teacher Shona Borthwick on her appointment as temporary PT of Enterprise. Pupils and staff wish them well in their new roles.

Ayrshire Cross Country

The Ayrshire Cross Country Championships will be held at the Magnum in Irvine on Wednesday 5th October. Pupils from schools throughout Ayrshire will be taking part in the event.

Health4Life trip to Greece

As part of Doon Academy’s Comenius Health4Life Project Ms. Fuller, Mrs Ferrie and S4 pupils Raegan Heggie, Tami McLelland, Varri Murdoch and Lauren Shaw will be visiting Patras in Greece for a project meeting. The team will be meeting teachers and pupils from our partnership schools in Belgium, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Spain to undertake project activities.

Work experience placements

S4 pupils are currently choosing their placements for work experience week 7th to 11th November.

Student teachers

Student teachers Lesley Crawford, English department, and Caroline Jones, Science department, take their leave of the school following their first observation placement. We look forward to their return on the 31st October.

Staff success

Congratulations to Miss Susan Miller, a teacher in the Supported Learning Centre, who has completed her Postgraduate Practice in Inclusion Education: Research, Policy and Practice.

Cricket starts again

Cricket practice will begin after the October holidays with Coach Mr White. Any pupil who wishes to tryout for the team please see Coach in the technical department.

Sponsored Walk

Doon Academy’s annual sponsored walk was a great success. Staff and pupils walked the Craigengillan Estate to raise funds for the school and were very lucky as the weather was dry and even sunny at times! Well done to everyone who took part in the event. The pictures are of the first boys and first girl home.

European Day of Languages

Modern Languages celebrated the European Day of Languages with pupils playing games in French and completing European quizzes. The Italian masterclass filmed pupils conversing in Italian.

Gleam up for an award

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Gleam - The musical which has been short listed for a national award under the category ‘best social marketing approach’. We wish them every success.

Visit to Transport Museum

Mr Richardson’s S4 Physics class along with the Crash Investigation masterclass visited the new Riverside Museum: Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel designed by internationally-renowned architect, Zaha Hadid. Alexander Nutt from the masterclass said “It was a great day and really interesting. I liked finding out how the cars and trains worked.”

Reading Ambassadors wanted

School Librarian Mrs Bax is recruiting S1 Reading Ambassadors to assist her in the library. Candidates should be friendly, approachable and have an interest in books. Application forms available from the library.

Martial Arts Champion

Congratulations to S1 pupil Amy Mitchell who won a gold medal at the Martial Arts championship.

Photographers go to Culzean

Higher Photography students braved the inclement weather and visited Culzean Castle to photograph the flora and fauna in a natural environment. The photographs will form part of the folio for their coursework.

SLF visits

Acting Depute Head Teacher Mrs Stewart visited the Scottish Learning Festival held at the S.E.C.C. At the festival there was a workshop on GLOW with an emphasis on the E-portfolios and the advantages for pupils. Also, Mrs Stewart attended the CfE session on Building the Senior Curriculum and how employers should have a pivotal role in delivery of CfE in the upper school. The new school inspections framework was also discussed with information on changes to the system. Mr Stewart will be updating staff on her findings at the next collegiate meeting. Mrs Bax, the School Librarian also visited SLF and attended sessions on Reading in Curriculum for Excellence, Planning interdisciplinary projects, and Literacy across learning at 3rd and 4th levels.

Willow work

In the Art masterclass pupils have been working with local willow artist Geoff Forrest to design and make willow sculptures to form part of the Dalmellington Art Trail.

Literacy Wall

The Literacy across Learning group has set up a Literacy Wall to celebrate high quality writing produced in all subjects. This month the French and English departments contributed to the wall. Congratulations to Mitchell Ewing, Blair Wilson, Samantha Torbet and Nicole Cuthill who produced the best work in S1 English and to Morgan Davis, Samantha Halbert, Charelle Boyce and Arron Ogilvie who produced the best work in S2 French.

Young Musician of the Year

Doon Academy’s Young Musician of the Year competition will be held on Friday 23rd September from 6.40pm in the assembly hall. Tickets cost £3.50 for adults and £2 for senior citizens and children; this includes finger buffet and refreshments. Tickets available from the school office 01292 550521. Raffle prizes and donations for the eventwill be gratefully received and may be handed in at the school office.

Dazzle

During the Dazzle masterclass pupils were busy reading scripts and working on performance techniques to preparation for their auditions. The auditions will be held in the coming weeks and will decide who will take the lead roles in the Christmas concert pantomime.

Ayrshire Higher Education Convention

70 S4/5/6 pupils will be attending the Ayrshire Higher Education Convention being held at the Park Hotel, Kilmarnock on Thursday 22nd September. The event is organised by Skills Development Scotland and there will be representatives from Universities and Colleges on hand to answer any questions from the pupils.

Rocket car competition

In conjunction with the Bloodhound Rocket Car Project pupils in the Engineering masterclass have been taking part in the rocket car competition. Their brief is to design a scale model of a rocket powered car which can reach a speed of 100 miles per hour. The pupils’ first prototype has had a test run and reached a speed of approximately 80 miles per hour. Well done to the class and good luck in the competition.

Art news

S6 pupils Zoe Muller and Lisa Chalmers visited the Glasgow School of Art to view Art school candidate portfolios.

Pupils in the Art department are designing a logo for the Dalmellington Village regeneration project.

Art deadline slips for S4-6 must be returned to Miss Fuller asap!

Paris trip

At the end of November senior pupils in the Modern languages department will be visiting Paris for 3 days. Pupils will see the Christmas lights on the Champs Elysees, visit the Eiffel Tower and other attractions; taste French food as well as speaking lots of French.

Energy courses

Doon Academy was visited by Marie Macklin Chief Executive of Kiln Homes in Kilmarnock and Gwen Barker the Community Planning and Partnership Manager. They met with teachers involved in our energy and renewable topics to discuss future campaigns. This meeting will help the school to plan courses and improve employment opportunities for our young people.

Masterclass programme

Doon Academy’s Wednesday afternoon Masterclasses are off to an excellent start. Pupils have chosen which masterclass activity they wish to undertake from a wide selection on offer from Crash Investigation, Entrepreneurship, Fishing, Italian, Jewellery Making and many more.

Young Musician of the Year

Doon Academy’s Young Musician of the Year competition will be held on Friday 23rd September from 6.40pm in the assembly hall. Tickets cost £3.50 for adults and £2 for senior citizens and children; this includes finger buffet and refreshments. Tickets available from the school office 01292 550521. Raffle prizes and donations for the event may be handed in at the school office.

Matchfit and Y-Dance

In the PE department pupils are undertaking Matchfit a football programme with Kilmarnock Football Club. Also Y-Dance group is returning to the school to work with dance pupils from the Dazzle masterclass.

CSI masterclass

On the 5th October Constable John Denholm from Strathclyde Police will be visiting the school to do a skid test on crash scene analysis with the CSI masterclass.

UCAS support

Mark Dawes, the School and Families Officer for FOCUS West, will be in school on Wednesday 14th September to undertake UCAS workshops, 4pm to 5.30pm and 6pm to 7.30pm on F.E and H.E with parents. Any parent who wishes to attend please contact Mark on 0141-331-8683

Italian Masterclass

The S3/S4 Italian masterclass students took a ' virtual tour' through the northern Italian towns of Parma, Modena and Venice, learning about the wonderful local cheeses, meats, vinegar and, of course, Ferrari cars! Everyone enjoyed sampling some Parmigiano cheese, some Parma ham and dipping some Italian bread into Modena vinegar. The main aim of the class is to learn to speak some Italian as well as learning about the culture and history of the country.

New Science Technicians

Mr. Gooding welcomes technicians Cheryl Napier and Jill MacWalters to the science department and wishes them well in their posts.

New teachers

Pupils and staff look forward to welcoming 2 student teachers to the school. Lesley Crawford will be in the English Department and Caroline Jones in the Science Department.

Jewellery Masterclass

Pupils in the Jewellery and Accessories master class are learning basic techniques and developing their fine motor skills. This is being done on a two week rota so pupils may practise different skills. Some pupils have been learning to use the small tools and handle the tiny beads and links used to make bracelets and necklaces; others have been learning to manipulate wire and use scissors for precision cutting to make paper flowers. The third group have been using wool to make pompoms. The long term aim of the class is to be able to supply our enterprise shop with goods to sell so it is important that we have the skills to produce goods of a high quality!