March 2013 Newsletter

March Newsletter 2013 Message from Mr Brown

Featured Items

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends, This newsletter covers the period of January 2013 until Easter. It has been a hectic time in school, with many important events taking place.

We hope that you enjoy this edition, which provides an important window into the life and work of the school.

As always, more information is available on our website.

 Engineering in Education Scheme  School Uniform Consultation  Primary 5 Transitions Event  Spotlight on Learning  Study Skills Workshops for Parents

Derek Brown, Headteacher

School Uniform Consultation

Engineering in Education Scheme Champions

Higher Biology Field Trip: Edinburgh Zoo

Rotary Club Support our World Challenge

Engineering in Education: Competition Winners The Engineering Development Trust is the largest provider of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) enrichment activities for 12-21 year olds in the UK. Their range of work related learning schemes provide opportunities to enhance their technical, personal and employability skills through industry-led projects, industrial placements and specialised courses. Through their work they help develop partnerships, build links between education and industry and help organisations reach talent and connect with young engineers and scientists across the UK. The web address for EDT is http://www.etrust.org.uk/ Over the past 6 months, seven S6 pupils at Oldmachar Academy have been involved in the ‘Engineering Education Scheme (EES)’. The EES aims to provide young people with an insight into engineering, science and technology along with work related learning in an industrial enterprise context.

Local company Sparrows Energy put forward Oldmachar Academy as their first choice to link with and sponsor on a project improvement topic.

The 7 pupils have worked as a team to solve a real life problem identified by Sparrows Energy. During this time they have liaised with various employees at Sparrows Energy, organised and held regular meetings with their mentors at Sparrows and spent time developing their solution at Sparrows itself.

The pupils have spent a large amount of their own time working on the project and have compiled a detailed report for the company which can be viewed on the school website.

On Thursday 18th April, the pupils attended the EES SCOTLAND CELEBRATION AND ASSESSMENT DAY (CAD) at the University of Strathclyde. At the event they gave a presentation about the project and their findings to a panel of industry experts. The pupils beat off stiff competition from other schools in Scotland to win the EES trophy and a prize of £250.

The pupils involved were: Grant Smith, Bartosz Gosk, Lauren Scott, Richard Higgins, David Eze, Daniel Thom and Ilyas Shafi.

Uniform Consultation Responding to Student Voice Recently we attended an Aberdeen City Council event designed to promote the Pupil Voice in Education. We were working with students in all eleven other schools.

We felt different due to the fact that the other students were more smartly presented. This was due to the fact that they wore school blazers.

Pictured right: Bethany Galley, Heather Preston and Reece Gibb.

When we came back to Oldmachar Academy, we asked Mr Brown to meet us and we told him how we felt. We said that we’d like to bring in school blazers in our own school, so that we could be just as smart as everyone else.

Mr Brown contacted a representative of a uniform company that specializes in running consultations on school blazers to help us.

In March we got the chance to speak to everyone in S3, S4 and S5 to tell them about our views and why we feel we should implement a smarter school uniform. Pupils got the chance to try on blazers.

Everyone looked a lot smarter.

We also got to speak to the parents of S3 students at the recent parents’ evening. This is important as we want everyone to hear our views.

Pupils pictured here are wearing sample blazers.

The students have now completed a survey on their views. Everyone has had a chance to have their say. We know that there are strong views about blazers and that different people have different opinions, but we believe that coming smarter to school sends out an important message about Oldmachar.

We want people to take us seriously and to look as smart as everyone else in Aberdeen.

Article by Heather Preston, Bethany Galley and Reece Gibb (S4)

Uniform Consultation (Continued)Â

Spotlight on Learning: Physical Education Basketball Skills Development Students in Ms Midgely’s S4 Core Physical Education group are pictured here in a recent activity. They were working on their basketball development skills.

Steven Murray and Craig Anderson are pictured here during the lesson. They explained the learning that they had been involved in and how much they enjoyed it.

Pupil Views We worked on developing the skills over a number of weeks. People really improved their performance and the games got better as we went along. We both enjoyed the basketball unit and got a lot out of it. We both enjoy sport a lot and think that the two units of core activity are important for fitness and skills.

Craig Anderson and Steven Murray (4C)

Core Physical Education Each student in S1 – S4 has two periods of Physical Education programmed into their weekly curriculum. We run a varied programme designed to interest students and to help them maintain healthy and active lifestyles.

Opportunities to develop skills under the pressure of game situations are also built in.

Pupil Views “We were playing basketball and learning the BEEF technique. This technique is used to help you shoot in basketball.

This is B for Balance, E for Elbow, then E for Eyes and F for follow through. As a result of our practice we were more likely to core when we shot the basketball.”

Rebecca Anderson and Emily Meldrum (4C)

Primary 5 Transitions Event Burns: The Musical To celebrate Burns Night, the Music and Drama departments worked with students from our ASG schools. Students from the Primary 5 groups in each school came to Oldmachar to learn Burns songs and develop short dramatic pieces. These were then woven into a production by Mrs Gill and Ms Walker. All Primary 5 parents were invited to attend a production of the students’ work.

Curricular Transitions The project was developed as part of the Oldmachar Academy ASG’s plan for curricular transitions, which is designed to facilitate contact between secondary staff and primary students, especially in some subjects which students in primary do not often get the chance to experience.

The activities designed for Primary 5 students were designed to help them get to know one another and also to let them find out about learning in a secondary environment

The Impact of the Event There has been a very positive reaction to the plan for curricular transitions generally and to this event in particular. Parents and students involved really appreciated the event, which is very pleasing for all of those involved in planning and delivering it.

Making New Friends We believe that helping people to make friends with new people is part of our mission in the community. Here (right) the young people are singing Auld Lang Syne at the end of the production.

Well done to everyone involved!

Spotlight on Learning: Curriculum Consultation Planning a Change This session we have reviewed and updated our curriculum for S3. This change was processed as a result of extended consultation with staff, students and parents.

The changes we have planned were based on national guidance and the views of the teaching staff of the school. As a result, three options for the S3 curriculum were developed and tested in consultation with students.

Preparing for S4 The curriculum has been updated in light of our experience this session. Students have found the current model to be a bit restrictive in terms of the options they could have. This has made it more difficult to plan transitions to S4, where, under Aberdeen City Council policy, they have to select six subjects in order to study for examinations.

Focus Group Activity Three focus groups of 15 students each met with Mr Brown and Mrs Stopani to consider the options and decide on which curriculum would best suit their needs.

Students weighed up the pros and cons of each different option and thought about the impact each of them would have on individual young people.

The Result The focus groups expressed a preference for a model that enabled them to choose options but to keep a wider range of subjects in play during S3. Some of the students presented their new curriculum to parents at the recent S2 parents’ evening (pictured above, right).

Well done to all those students who participated in the consultation.

Spotlight on Learning: Higher Biology Edinburgh Zoo is owned by The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). The Society was founded in March 1909, and the Zoo opened in July 1913. It is one of Europe's leading centres of conservation, education and research. The extensive education programme aims to raise awareness and understanding of the fragility of life on this planet, and our responsibility to help care for it.

The education programme is designed to work in line with ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ and enhance the knowledge and understanding of the pupils. In March, seven of our Higher Biology pupils took part in the programme learning more about ‘Evolution’ and ‘Adaptation’. These are two of the topic areas covered in the Higher course.

The pupils were able to discover the theory of evolution through natural selection in the interactive session. This involved activities designed to demonstrate the process of evolution, focusing on topics such as the importance of variation, common ancestors, natural and sexual selection. This included handling a corn snake as an example of variation within a species (Hannah Urquhart is pictured right with a corn snake).

Pupils also took part in a Zoo tour to see examples of convergent and divergent evolution (e.g. penguins and sea lions), speciation through isolation (lemurs) and the differences between specialists and generalists (e.g. koalas and monkeys). As part of this tour, the behavioural, physical and physiological adaptations of animals, from different environments were also explained.

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed this experience which brought to life what they had learned in the classroom.

Spotlight on Learning: Collaborative Learning Collaborative Learning in Biology Using the Critical Skills approach to learning can be fun and challenging. This is an approach that ensures that all students are actively engaged in their learning and that they have a clear sense of the progress they are making in their courses.

Students pictured here are involved in Critical Skills activities in their Standard Grade Biology class.

Challenging Learning Students are provided with challenges that require them to solve problems, or design solutions based on prior learning. They have to be able to use existing knowledge and apply their skills in different contexts.

This commitment to deeper learning is at the heart of Curriculum for Excellence.The pictures here show students engaged in their tasks.

Knowledge The lesson allowed students to apply their knowledge about respiration and heat in a challenging context. This activity helped them to consolidate their knowledge. Students set the success criteria for the lesson and the game / points available for the task added a sense of purpose and fun to the situation.

There was a competitive element and students could lose points. None did, showing how engaged everyone was in their learning.

Pace and Challenge in Learning Students had a very clear grasp of biological context and were very confident with the biological terms. They engaged readily in informal discussion about the subject and did so with confidence. They reported that they enjoyed the challenges that were set and the learning in the class. They found it motivating to learn in this way.

Spotlight on Learning: Healthy Smoothie Ice Lolly Design We were asked to design a healthy smoothie lolly and wrapper ideas for our home work.

We had to buy a ice lolly and eat it, then bring the wrapper in to school. Once we all had a lolly wrapper we had to then come up with our own design, by taking patterns and colours for the wrappers. We had bought ice lollies and we are now making our own design.

First we drew fruits to put in our smoothie ice lolly for flavour. Then we had to draw out a design for our ice lollies. We traced the lolly pop stick and then we drew a shape for the ice lolly which was a fruit shape. We had to then think of ideas to make it 3D. Once we knew how to make it 3D we built it up. After building up the shape we did paper mache so it looked more realistic than a huge gap in between the two shapes. Once the paper mache was dry, we had to paint it all with white emulsion.

After that was dry we then had to use water colours to brighten it up and make it look more watery. When our ice lolly was done and dry we though of a target market which we made it appeal to children. Then it was time to make our wrappers. We were told o make then colourful and bright. We also used our imagination. We drew a few rough copies until we had our final design. After the wrapper and ice lolly was done we made a collage. We stuck our rough copies down, and our final wrapper and lollies and wrappers that we took in for homework.

Finally it was all complete!

By Lianna Paterson & Brogan Stewart 1.1

Study Skills Workshops for Parents Building Learning Power This session a self evaluation activity undertaken by all S3 and S4 students showed that a number of our students were not confident in constructing and following study plans. Additionally, a number of students were not confident that they could improve their own learning.

These students and their parents were invited to attend an evening of workshop activities devoted to helping them.

Active Revision The sessions were coordinated by Mr Reid and were led by S6 students. The first session focused on active revision strategies. These are ways to process information actively and to ensure that learning is engaging. Students are encouraged to use approaches to learning which are stimulating and challenging.

This should all be coordinated as part of a meaningful study plan.

Maintaining a Proper Study Environment Students were also encouraged to consider the place in which they study and how to make it conducive to successful studying. This means avoiding distractions when studying and also ensuring that they have a private space where they cannot be interrupted.

Pictured right are parents and students working on the workshop activities. Pictured above are some of our S6 students who organized and delivered the activities.

Announcements Rotary Club Support for World Challenge Thank you to our friends in the Bridge of Don Rotary Club for supporting the fundraising efforts of our World Challenge team. The team will be going to Malaysia this June and have been busy with preparations.

The Rotary Club facilitated a Bag Packing Event which raised over £1400. Students are pictured right receiving their cheque.

World Challenge Coffee Morning Thanks to the members of Oldmachar Academy’s Parent Council for supporting the recent Coffee Morning run by students in the World Challenge Team. The team arranged the event to raise money for their trip. The event was well attended and raised over £700.

Thanks are also given to Mrs Moir and Mrs Williamson for their work in developing the event.

S1 Student’s Fund Raising Just before Christmas Abbie Shirren, 1C, handed over a cheque for £520 to the Archie Foundation. Abbie has had links with the Children’s Hospital for a number of years and had a short stay in hospital in September.

During her recovery Abbie decided to raise money for the hospital by making items of jewellery which she sold in school and in the community. By organising a raffle during an Open House event, where gift and craft items were being sold, Abbie also raised £150.

Developing Business Links Students pictured right with Isobel Maughan are marking our new partnership with Careers Academies, which will create business mentor partners with a number of companies, including BP. Recently Oldmachar Academy staged a business breakfast on behalf our consortium of schools to raise awareness of the Skills for Work programmes our senior students can undertake at college and or in one of the schools. For these courses, we require business partners.