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Broxburn Academy
April 2015
Dear Parent/Carer
Welcome to the April Newsletter. We hope that you had a relaxing Easter break.
Things have been fairly quiet on the news front this month due to the holiday
period, however here at the Academy exam season is now in full swing. We said a
fond farewell to our S6 pupils last week and wish them all the best with their
exams and their future careers. We also wish our S4 & 5 pupils all the best with
their exams.
Here’s a roundup of all that has been happening in and around the Academy this
month. Don’t forget if you have any news that you want to share with the school
don’t hesitate to contact me on Julie.maher@westlothian.org.uk.
News
Broxburn Academy's S6 students take significant role in promoting reading
in local primary schools:
S6 students from Broxburn Academy have been working closely with four of their
cluster primary schools to develop, deliver and co-ordinate lunchtime reading clubs
designed to promote reading for pleasure amongst P6 and P7 pupils. They have
been working with, Broxburn, Kirkhill, Uphall and Pumpherston primary schools.
The S6 students were divided into groups of three and each allocated a cluster
primary school to work with. They then held a weekly lunchtime reading club
where primary pupils could come to read and talk about their books. The S6
students took full responsibility for the running of their individual clubs
and developed resources and activities to keep primary pupils involved.
It is hoped that promoting the act of reading for pleasure will help develop good
habits that will stand students in good stead throughout their school career and
beyond.
Primary pupils have also highlighted how positive it was to work with S6 students
and said that it would make the transition to Broxburn Academy a lot less
daunting. S6 student, Rachel McIntyre, said: "I felt this was a very valuable
experience for me as we had to organise what we did with our club on our
own. This gave us the responsibility and meant that we had to use our initiative
and be independent"
English Teacher and 'reading for pleasure' co-ordinator Jamie Crawford said: "I
have been hugely impressed with the strong leadership shown by our S6 students
who have excelled when given this level of responsibility. I think it is very
important to work in partnership with our primary colleagues and will be looking
forward to continuing with this work in the new term. Promoting reading at an
early age is massively important if we are to equip our students to become lifelong
learners."
Jamie Crawford, Broxburn Academy
Pupils Raise Money for Teenage Cancer Trust
S4 pupils Kaitlin MacDonald, Tinashe Muzakambeva and Holly Logan raised a
staggering £940 for the charity Teenage Cancer Trust and their friend and
Broxburn Academy pupil Shannon Hughes, who is requiring treatment at home for
an illness and has been absent from school for nearly two years. The girls took it
upon themselves to arrange a night out for Shannon and her family and friends to
enjoy. The girls organised everything from the venue to food and local disco
‘Jolly’s’, who kindly donated their services for free, they even arranged for a
photographer (JHY) to come along and record the night’s events, again totally free
of charge. They went to local businesses to ask for their help in donating raffle
prizes and even arranged for Shannon to have a lovely make-over on the day of
the party. The girls gave some of the proceeds to Teenage Cancer Trust and the
rest to Shannon to spend on something she really wanted or to do. Shannon’s
family would like to send out a huge thank you to both the girls and also to all who
attended on the night, without them this would never have been possible.
Academy Raises Cash for Nepal Earthquake Disaster
Pupils and staff have so far raised £155 for the Nepal Earthquake Fund, that is
enough to provide 15 whole families with clean drinking water. Thank you to all
who donated. The academy is also holding a Great Broxburn Bake Off on Tuesday
12th May. Staff will be showing off their baking skills by producing a ‘showstopper’
cake which will be judged by an expert panel. Once a winner has been announced
all cakes will be available to buy with all proceeds going to the Earthquake fund, so
don’t forget your cash!!
Broxburn Academy English teacher races 283.7 miles to raise money for
charity:
On the 4th of May Broxburn Academy teacher, Jamie Crawford, completed the
2015 Belfast City Marathon as part of his drive to raise funds for Edinburgh charity
'Fresh Start'. As part of his fundraising efforts he is taking part in 11 races this
year with an accumulated mileage of 283.7 miles; His aim is to raise at least 1
pound for every mile that he covers and, having completed 5 of the 11 races
he has already raised 54% of his target.
The races that he aims to complete this year are as follows:
Lasswade 10 - 10 miles
The Mighty Deerstalker- 10 miles
Scottish Kilomothon - 9 miles
Great Edinburgh run - 10 miles
Belfast Marathon - 26.2 miles
Edinburgh Marathon - 26.2 miles
Bethany cycle sportive - 72 miles
Flying Scotsman sportive - 78 miles
Loch Ness marathon - 26.2 miles
Glasgow half marathon - 13.1 miles
Edinburgh Parkrun in under 20 mins- 3 miles
Total mileage - 283.7 miles
He is competing to raise funds for 'Fresh Start'. 'Fresh Start' is an Edinburgh based
charity that helps people who have been homeless get established in their new
home. Working in partnership with volunteers and organisations from a broad
sector of the community, they deliver a range of services that provide practical and
social support that helps people resettle successfully. Help him on his way
by sponsoring him at www.justgiving.com/Jamie-Crawford7
Internet Safety
Information has been received by Police Scotland the primary school children in Fife
are visiting the website Omegle. There is a real concern with young people using
this site. It has a strap line ‘talk to strangers’ and has no registration onto the site
resulting in a difficulty of tracing those using the site. The site is a chat site that
allows users to converse via text or webcam. Many users visit the website for
sexual chat and webcam is used to exchange images and sexual behaviours. You
have no control over who you chat to, your stranger is selected at random. We
would like to share this information with you and encourage you to again discuss
the dangers of speaking to people you don’t know online and remind young people
of the need to behave the same way online as they do in the real world.
Events & Activities
London Drama Trip
Broxburn Academy drama pupils visited London’s West end this Easter. Highlight’s
included a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, performances of smash hit
musicals The Book of Mormon and Billy Elliot and a number of theatre workshops
all led by professional west end performers. The trip gave pupils the chance to
work alongside professional working actors, giving them the opportunity to ask
questions and understand what life is like for an actor working in London. Both
performances were outstanding and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The trip was
made even more enjoyable by the fantastic weather, reaching highs of over 23
degrees! In between workshops and performances pupil’s managed to fit in a spot
of sightseeing including Horse Guards Parade, The Houses of Parliament and
Buckingham Palace. This was all topped off by a mini shopping trip on the last day
in Covent Garden.
This is the department’s second trip to London in recent years and can only be
described as a roaring success. The pupils behaved impeccably and a great time
was had by all.
Pupils learning the ropes at The Globe Theatre.
Pupils enjoying a Shakespeare workshop.
Sightseeing outside Buckingham Palace.
Individual Achievements
Scottish National Gold & Silver
A huge congratulations to S6 leaver David MacDonald who took Gold at the recent
Scottish National Age Group Championships. David, as part of a 4 man relay
team in the 17 and over age category, won the Gold medal for the 4 x 100m
Freestyle and the Silver medal for the 4 x 200m Freestyle, he also reached the final
of the 50m Butterfly, finishing in 9th place.
Finally
That’s it for this month; we do however have a few events pending that are worth
putting in your diary. Tuesday the 19th to 26th May sees the return of the school’s
Book Fair. Pay a visit to the library at any time during this week and get your
hands on a bargain, there’s also an opportunity to win an ipad mini! The library
would also appreciate it if you could donate any old books you no longer want.
Also to help us support activities for our young people could you please put your
old clothes and shoes in our textile bank.
Don’t forget we also have the annual school show coming up in June. This year we
are putting on The Little Shop of Horrors and it’s shaping up to be a fantastic show,
look out for further details next month and also on the school website.
Yours faithfully,
Head Teacher