Ayrshire Association of Business Women

On Tuesday 19 March, 3 senior girls attended an event run by the Ayrshire Association of Business Women to mark International Women’s Day.

Hayley Bone, Heather Dunn and Tami McLelland accompanied Mrs Allen and Miss Fuller to the event at the Gailes Hotel, Irvine. The night was a great success and everyone enjoyed a 2 course dinner and the opportunity to network with other schools in Ayrshire.

Speakers at the event included Marie Macklin, CEO of The Klin Group, Fiona McKenzie, Director of Centrestage and Annie Lewis representing Oxfam.
To see coverage by Cumnock Chronicle click here.

Business Management Revision Conference

A Pupil Revision Conference run by AOK Learning is available for Higher Business Management pupils during the Easter holidays. This will be held on the afternoon of the 3rd of April in Glasgow Caledonian University. The session will focus on exam preparation and pupils will be given an insight into what the marker is looking for to allow pupils to boost their grade. The cost of the session is £9 per pupil and further information is available from Mrs Allen.

Warning May Contain Losses

All S2 pupils have been working on the Warning May Contain Losses project that has been run between the Business Education & ICT Dept. and Home Economics. The pupils’ challenge was to start-up a company to design and sell a chocolate bar across the school. Each group of 4-5 pupils had to investigate the market to find out about the products available; then discover what influences what we buy and why; design an advertising poster and wrapper for the product; and prepare a PowerPoint presentation. The class winners presented their product to Mr MacKenzie, Mrs Riggins and Miss Borthwick.

The overall winning product was ‘Choco Madness’ designed by Charelle Boyce, Kieran Madden, Morgan Davis and Ryan Crawford. The Choco Madness bar will be available in the school canteen for all to buy from Tuesday 8th May. Congratulations to the winning team and to everyone who took part.

Stock Exchange Challenge

Five pupils from S3, Kirsty McCormick, Rachel Boyce, Stephanie Carrick, Halle Fitzsimmons and Patrick Gilmore attended the Stock Market Challenge competition in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. 
Pupils were accompanied by Mrs Stewart, Principal Teacher of Business Education and IT. 

The challenge allowed pupils to experience what life is like in the Stock Exchange and gave them an understanding of the effect of supply and demand on share prices.  Students also learned how events in the news and people behaviour can affect the confidence of investors and determine share and currency prices.  During the day pupils were involved in problem solving, risk assessment management and using their Business and Maths skills.  To be successful they had to work under pressure, as part of a team and rely on good communication skills. 

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the event and above all had 'great fun' in their learning.

Coca Cola Visit

Pupils from classes in S3 Business Management and S5/6 Business Management visited Coca Cola Enterprises Ltd recently.
During their visit they learned about the marketing carried out by Coca Cola and about the wide number of products produced by the organisation. They were given information about the production of the famous soft drink and then had a conducted tour of the manufacturing process.
They then had a workshop to design a new product for Coca Cola. Four S5/6 pupils, Nathan Gilmore, Lauren Mitchell, Ashley Green and Alistair Paton, together with Mrs Stewart, Principal Teacher of Business Education & ICT in the school, were invited to be present at the launch of the Scottish Food & Drink Federation’s Skills Ambassador programme which involves people working in the food sector supporting education establishments with careers advice. During this time the pupils were introduced to Richard Lockhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment.

Visit to Coca-Cola

Pupils in S3 and S5/6 Business Management classes are preparing for their visit to Coca Cola in East Kilbride where they will learn about the marketing and operations activities carried out by the famous soft drink manufacturer. Pupils will be accompanied by Mrs Stewart, Miss Grant and Mr Kerr.

Business start-up day

6 senior pupils attended the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust start-up day at the Park Hotel in Kilmarnock. The pupils undertook workshops and gained valuable skills that will help them to start-up their own business in the future.

Stock Market Challenge

S3 Business Management pupils are looking forward to taking part in the Stock Market Challenge at the Mitchell Library on Wednesday 25 January.  They will be accompanied by Mrs Stewart, Principal Teacher of Business Education & ICT.

Business seminar

As part of the school’s enterprise project 10 senior pupils will be attending a business seminar on the 10^th November at St. Joseph’s Academy. The pupils will take part in workshops led by Sir Tom Hunter where they will learn valuable business skills.

Coca Cola Visit

S3 Business Management pupils enjoyed a visit to Coca Cola site in East Kilbride. During their time at the factory they learned about the marketing of the famous soft drink and also the production processes involved. This was followed by a tour of the factory which was enjoyed by everyone. Many thanks to Joanne Gabbay, Education Centre Manager at Coca Cola Enterprises for making our visit such an interesting and informative one. The group were accompanied by Mrs Stewart, Principal Teacher of Business Education & ICT and Ms Mendy, Maths teacher.

Coca Cola visit

Third year pupils in the Business Management class are making plans to attend Coca Cola Enterprises in East Kilbride. The group will learn about the organisation, the production of Coca Cola, quality procedures in place and the marketing of the famous brand. They will be accompanied by Mrs Stewart and Miss Mendy.

Business Challenge

The S3 Business management class are busy working on their projects for the Coca-Cola Challenge.

Visit to Coca-Cola

Arrangements have been made by the Business Education and ICT Department for the S3 Business Management pupils to visit Coca-Cola in East Kilbride.

U Can Do It 2 roadshow

S2 pupils, accompanied by Mr. Power, Ms. Griffin and Mr. Tickner, attended the ‘U Can Do It 2’ road show. Pupils were placed in mixed groups, along with pupils from other Ayrshire schools, where they participated in a range of workshops that had been developed by local companies. The workshops had a range of tasks designed to give the pupils an idea of the skills required when working in a particular industry and to aid the pupils in their options choices for S3. Pupils were responsible for team building and problem solving to complete their tasks. S2 BBC School News Reporters also used this opportunity to write an article on the event for their BBC news report.

Broaden Your Horizons

S4/5/6 Business Management students attended the ‘Broaden your Horizons’ event at Prestwick Airport, which was part of Ayrshire Business Week activities. Students learned about the work of the Prince’s Youth Trust and Oxfam during the seminar and were able to ask questions of young people who had received finance from the Prince’s Trust. Mrs Stewart, Mrs Strachan and Mr. Watt accompanied the group.

Business Education Roadshow

Pupils from S2 recently attended a Business Education and Computing Roadshow in the Community Centre. Various businesses and organisations from the local area attended and pupils were involved in workshop activities. The day was designed to give pupils a taste of skills required and jobs which would be available with those skills in the world of Business and Computing. Thanks to all businesses and organizations that readily agreed to take part. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all pupils. Mrs Stewart, Mrs MacKenzie and Mr Power of the Business Education and ICT Department accompanied pupils.

U Can Do It 2

In Business Education and ICT, S2 pupils will be taking part in the ‘U Can Do It 2’ Roadshow in Kilmarnock where pupils will experience workshops given by local industries.

Stock Market Challenge

On Thursday 22 January five pupils from S3 represented Doon Academy at the Stock Market Challenge, which was held in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Pupils were given £15,000 to invest in the Stock Market with the object being to maximize the team’s portfolio value by buying and selling shares in nine listed companies and by trading in the Euro. The event gave pupils the opportunity to experience the excitement of dealing on a live stock market trading floor in competition with other regional schools. Pupils taking part were Ashleigh Mitchell, Lauren Mitchell, Laura Halbert, Ritchie Lindores and Gavin McFadzean. Mrs Stewart, Principal Teacher of Business Education and ICT, accompanied the group.

28th January 2008

Doon Academy’s team of S3 Business Management pupils attended the Stock Exchange Challenge at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Our team competed against pupils from other schools in the West of Scotland and experienced how to live through a week in the life of a trader on the Stock Exchange by buying and selling shares. The team managed to invest wisely and ended the challenge with more money in their portfolio. Well Done to Lesley Baird, Claire Connell, Lorna Brown, Alan Napier and Allan McDonald. The team were accompanied by Mrs Stewart from our Business Education and ICT Department
Doon Academy’s annual Burns Supper will be held on Wednesday 6th February 2008. Our 9th Supper promises to be a great evening with pupils performing Burns speeches, recitations and songs. Chairperson will be 6th year Russell Marshall. Tickets £5.00 available from Mrs. Cassidy at the school.
In the Concept 2 Rowing programme we have two pupils at the top of the world rankings for their age group. Keiren Mullen in the 1000 metres and Calum McLarty in the 500 metres. Congratulations to them both.
Exciting news from the Art Department staff who are arranging a visit to the jewellery exhibition at the Glasgow School of Art.
In Work Experience, three 3rd year pupils are attending for a week on the Fire Outreach Programme at Cumnock Fire Station. Five 4th year pupils are attending Ayr College for a week learning Construction Skills.
In preparation for their ski weekend in Aviemore 20 pupils attended the Newmilns ski slope to develop their skills.
Pupils in Modern Languages will be taking part in a Spanish Cooking Day. They will be preparing, cooking and eating tasty Spanish dishes. Ole!
Support for Learning Department will be piloting a new reading programme ‘Read, Write, Here’ developed by retired teacher Miss. O’Rourke.
GOALS Campus Day, for 3rd years, at the RSAMD and GSA will be taking place on February 26th.