Rapid Response Engineering challenge

Pupils and staff were delighted to welcome to the school 2 engineers from Institution of Civil Engineers in Scotland who gave a talk to S2 about what civil engineers do and introduced the Rapid Response Engineering Challenge. S2 have been busy all week on project work relating to the challenge.

S2 Parents Evening

The S2 Parents Evening will be held on Wednesday 22^nd February at 5.30pm to 7.30pm. This is an important time for our S2 pupils as they are making their 3^rd year option choices. It would be great to meet as many parents as possible to discuss their child’s progress and future options. We look forward to seeing you all.

Social Subjects trip to Edinburgh

 The Social Subjects department has organised a visit to Edinburgh where pupils will undertake workshops at the Palace of Holyroodhouse as part of their Mary Queen of Scots topic Also they will tour the Scottish Parliament and interview MSP Adam Ingram for the BBC School News Report. MSP Ingram will be reciprocating the visit by coming to the school on Friday 11^th November to speak to staff and pupils about the school’s improvement plans.

Mini-sagas

S1 and S2 pupils, in Ms. Borthwick’s English classes, who took part in the Mini-Sagas competition, have now received their published book. The pupils are all really excited to see their names in print.

P1/2 Storytime

Dalmellington Primary School’s P1/2 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 P1/2s voted for their favourite book, ‘Ernest’ by Catherine Rayner which was read to the class by S2 pupils Robert Brown, Aaron McKinstray and Taylor McKnight. Well done to all the readers and to the P1/2s.

Rapid Response Engineering Challenge

Doon’s Academy’s S2 pupils undertook the Rapid Response Engineering Challenge week, produced in cooperation with Institution of Civil Engineers. On Monday engineers, Hazel Wilson and Craig Striker, came into school and gave a presentation on the work of civil engineers and then co-opted S2 to be emergency response engineers to help with the aftermath of a hurricane in Honduras. During the rest of the week the pupils learned about disaster relief, hurricanes and other useful skills they might need as disaster workers. Last Friday all S2 pupils were split into teams and they faced a series of 7 challenges which ranged from building an emergency shelter, transporting water, cleaning water, orienteering in Spanish, preparing an emergency meal, and making weather instruments. Despite the bad weather forecast, some activities were able to be held outside. The pupils all enjoyed themselves and found the day quite hard work and very challenging. Congratulations to the winning team Lauren Kennedy, Halle Fitzsimmons, Lorelle White, Darren McLarty, Damien Slocombe and Lewis Weir.

Gothic Adventure

30 S1/2 pupils visited the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock for a drama workshop based around the 1839: Gothic Adventure exhibition. Under the direction of the drama leader Michaella Mullen pupils took part in many activities including a procession march recreating the Eglington Tournament of 1839. Everyone really enjoyed their day and thank you to Michaella for her energy and expertise.

S2 Option Choices

The science department held an information afternoon to assist S2 pupils in choosing their options for 3rd year. In chemistry the pupils conducted the “Magnetic Cornflakes" experiment and were extracting real iron from the cornflakes with a magnet.
Mrs. Gray the chemistry teacher was quick to remind everyone “Remember not to eat too big a bowl of cornflakes before you go on holiday, or you might just set the metal detector off at the airport!”

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.

S2 Football

On Monday 29th March, the school S2 boy’s football team were due to take part in an East Ayrshire schools tournament at Grange Academy. Unfortunately, a number of schools had to pull out of the tournament so Doon were left to test their skills against three teams from Grange Academy. In very testing weather conditions Doon competed well in three thrilling matches. Unfortunately for Doon, they narrowly lost in all three games to score lines of 4-3, 3-2 and 4-3. There is no doubt that the boys deserved more for their efforts but a combination of some missed chances and some late goals from Grange meant that they were to leave with no victories. Goal scorers for Doon were Michael Harvey with a fantastic five goals whilst William McCleary grabbed a brace. Daryl Grover also got his name on the score sheet. Every player played their part in very difficult conditions and can feel unfortunate that they didn’t get the luck they deserved. Let’s hope they have a change in fortunes when they play next time. Doon Team: Peter Featherstonehaugh, Andrew Paton, Michael McCreath, Alexander McDowall, James McCreath, Daryl Grover, Michael Harvey, William McCleary

Theresa Breslin

Miss Borthwick's S2 English class travelled all the way to Kilmarnock Academy to hear the famous author Theresa Breslin speak about her work. She mainly discussed Remembrance, her First World War story and Divided City, which is set in Glasgow and is about prejudice. She answered questions from the audience, gave away posters and had a prize raffle. A very entertaining morning.

Respect and Protect

Doon Academy will be launching their Respect and Protect Policy at the S2 parents evening on Thursday 25th February. This policy will serve as a model for East Ayrshire. Also attending the parents evening will be FOCUS West parents and families officer Joe Meloy who will give a presentation to S2 parents on the role of the forum.

S2 Parents Evening

There will be a S2 parents evening on Thursday 25th February. Joe Meloy FOCUS West’s Parents and Families will be giving a presentation and speaking to S2 parents.

Options

The option choices sheet, for pupils in S2 and S4, has now been issued and
pupils are busy deciding on their future courses.

Celebration of Scotland

All S2 pupils took part in a two-day Scotland Challenge organised by Mrs Bax the librarian. The Scotland study involved staff from Science and Social Subjects departments. The end result was a celebration of Scotland linking most departments in the school, with Scottish Dancing and Burns poetry. Shortbread and ‘tattie’ scones provided by Home Economics followed a French role-playing exercise. The entertainment was rounded off by the Music department, with the singing of Caledonia and the wind band playing a rousing recital of Highland Cathedral. Well done to all pupils and staff who took part.

Scots language workshops

Dr. Fred Freeman, the renowned author and academic, visited the school and took S1 and S2 classes for workshops on the Scots Language. Through the medium of Burns and Scottish songs Dr Freeman gave a lively talk on the history of Scots. Pupils were able to show their knowledge and prowess of the language and they really enjoyed singing traditional Scottish songs. Whilst at the school Dr Freeman was interviewed by the BBC School News Reporters for the BBC School Report.

Auchencruive trip

On September 30th, 32 students from S2, soon to be thinking about choices for their third year, will be going on a trip to Auchincruive for the day. There, they will be carrying out fieldwork, (experiments and investigations) outside in the fresh September air instead of the classroom. They will carry out studies in Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Home Economics. We hope they enjoy the day!

Storytime

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, which was The Way Back Home, by Oliver Jeffers read to the class by S2 pupils Shereen Steele and Chelsea Carruthers.

Lightning Larry

Congratulations to the S1 and S2 pupils who performed their drama skit ‘Lightning Larry’ for the pupils and teachers of Dalmellington Primary School. The performance was a great success with some excellent singing and dancing in the show.

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.