ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY Weekly Newsletter
ISSUE 23.2 APRIL 28TH
2014
INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM: Residents from Garven Court spent a day back at school on April 2nd - even getting into uniform. more pictures inside.
FOR PARENTS, CARERS, FAMILIES & PARISHES
Ben Davis, Acting Headteacher Grassyards Rd Kilmarnock KA3 7SL 01563 526144 www.saintjosephsacademy.co.uk Twitter: @StJoAcad
CHLOE COOKS TO THE TOP
New Qualifications are go!
S6 pupil Chloe Dickson, studying Intermediate 2 Hospitality, has been highly commended in a cookery competition, we found out the other day.
This week saw pupils sit the first of the new qualifications. Having left last week the pupils had been swotting up over the weekend as well as attending study days and Easter school.
Chloe, who leaves school in a few weeks time, was placed in the top ten of The Culinary Games pupil competition, meaning that her recipe will be appearing in the Culinary Games Cookbook. Chloe will also receive a £25 iTunes voucher. The Cookbook should be online in early May, but hopefully we will receive some printed copies. She was nominated by Home Economics teacher Miss Northcote who is absolutely delighted with her success. For the competition Chloe had to design a dish inspired by one of the countries of the Commonwealth and chose the British Virgin Islands. She says: ‘I really enjoyed preparing and tasting my chosen dish and thought the British Virgin Isles was an interesting country to investigate. I felt that the recipes that I found were lacking in spirit and fun therefore I have tried to celebrate the British Virgin Isles with flair with my chosen dish.’ For our readers with a bit of culinary talent we have published the recipe in this edition, along with a picture if you need a little extra help. Very well done Chloe.
History was made on Tuesday, April 29th, when the first pupils to sit a new National Qualification opened their N5 Modern Studies papers. After the exam there was the usual mix of smiles and relief. The pupils seemed confident and the teachers were happy that it was a fair paper. We have published the dates of forthcoming exams in this newsletter. You can also view the full timetable at: http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/ExamTimetable2014.pdf
Sean brings the house down S6 pupil Sean Poag provided one of the highlights of the year last week when, as the culmination of his Personal Development course, he organised and performed his own stand-up comedy show. Supported by Mrs. Lightfoot and comedian Billy Kirkwood and cheered on by about 50 pupils in the Drama Studio he ripped through a tight set of gags and personal observations. His timing was impeccable and very few topics were missed. Musical support came from Ross Szumlakowski and Abi Banner who performed Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. Anyone with photos of the event should contact the Office.
RECIPE: Chloe Dickson’s Soy and Apricot Chicken INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets 300ml chicken stock 250g apricot jam 1 tablespoon reduced salt soy sauce 2 tablespoon cornflour 1 tablespoon water ½ red pepper 1 tbsp kale (shredded) 50g rice 1 dried apricot (shredded) Seasoning
Preparation: 5min Cook: 15min Ready in: 20min METHOD 1. Heat oil in a large frying pan, add chicken and brown all over. 2. Add chicken stock, jam and soy sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked when tested. Macedoine (cube) the red pepper and leave to the side. 3. Remove chicken from frying pan. Add cornflour and water to sauce to thicken (equal amounts of more of each if you like it thicker) and stir thoroughly. Simmer 1 minute and reduce. Add the red pepper and take off the heat. 4. Boil water and add rice. Cook until soft. Drain water from the rice, season and mix in the shredded kale. Place the rice into a small rounded container to mould the rice and place on to plate. Carefully remove the rounded container. 5. Slice the chicken and place next to the rice and pour the reduced sauce on top. 6. Garnish rice with the shredded dried apricot. 7. Serve. Makes one generous portion, although enough sauce for several servings.
PICTURES FROM AROUND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY Who are this lovely lot? They are the pupils who are lucky enough to be Mrs. Greengrass’ Home Room and they won the Parent Council Coin Challenge. They are pictured with the Easter hamper they won which was presented to them by Chair of the Parent Council, Noreen Dunnachie.
Pictured above is S5 pupil Nik Kolev receiving a copy of Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ at the KESS lecture on behalf of the school. Nik is pictured with (from left) Physics PT, Mr. Barbour, Professor Danny Gorman, Professor Martin Hendry and Director of Education and Social Services Graham Short.
PICTURES FROM AROUND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY
SMALL SCHOOL; BIG AMBITION. We are delighted to celebrate the work of members of our Learning Community. So we were very chuffed to see how well St. Xavier’s had done in the Scotland-wide Primary Engineer competition in the South of Scotland Regional Finals. Well done.
PICTURES FROM AROUND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY Damian Parant shares a joke
Not just welcome - part GARVEN COURT RESIDENTS VISIT
of the school
Over the next two pages you can see our S6 Personal
community.
Development pupils leading the visit by residents from Garven Court. Regional Finals. Well done. Bethany McPhee takes charge of the class
PICTURES FROM AROUND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Our guests get to grips with tablet technology supported by the pupils including Stephanie Swan and Paul McClung.
AROUND THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY: S1 ANIMAL POETRY THE SNAKE
DOLPHIN
The snake slithers through the rivers
The bottle nosed dolphin
And any prey insight it must bite
As cute and soft as a baby
Its raised up head and stiffened body
When it is born
Ready to pounce
It eats fish from coast to coast
Its paralysing fangs are sharp as knives
It gets away from its prey
The sleekit predator
Fast as a lightning bolt
its rough beautiful skin can wrap
Through the water
around a ten foot bear They are as calm as a clam And choke it to death
Until‌
it slowly slides along the grass
A shark comes
like the cold soft breeze
Then they are worried
while its hypnotising eyes
Their hearts racing
follow you around
Like a mini-gun.
Mark Taylor
Declan Sloan
TARANTULA
The tarantula with its great big fangs
Fangs like blades, and very creepy legs
Paralysing its victims with its venom
It’s not the kind of thing that would be eaten
The size of a dinner plate, it likes its bait
It likes small mice, rats and birds
Using the air to move through the jungle
It is the biggest arachnid in the world
Caleb Hunter
STV Debate Matters We have covered the success of our debating team in the recent STV Debate Matters Referendum series. You can still watch their performance online (originally screened on April 12th) by visiting STV Player where you will also find a feature on the pupils’ reflections about the event.
that three week period the magazine has been read over 2000 times. If you haven’t yet viewed it you can do so on our blog (www.saintjosephsacademy.co.uk). It contains the work of dozens of pupils and showcases the excellent work produced by pupils and staff at St. Joseph’s Academy. S5 pupils secure Oxford places
Pupils attend KESS lecture
We are delighted to report that two of our S5 pupils have been offered places A group of the school’s young scientists enjoyed a Hawking evening at the prestigious Oxford Summer School. – and were rewarded with copies of A Brief History of Time by the worldNik Kolev and Mark McInnes will both famous physicist. The get-together was one of a series of events in local be heading south this summer to experience learning and life at one of schools to stimulate young people’s the world’s premier academic interest in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The institutions. Well done to them! event, organised by Kilmarnock Commonwealth Batonbearers Engineering and Science Society (KESS) commenced with a showing The Commonwealth Baton will be of the Film 4 biopic ‘Hawking’. borne by not one, but two of our pupils Internationally eminent cosmologist when it passes through East Ayrshire. Professor Martin Hendry, Head of Scott Dipiazza (S3) and Danielle Physics and Astronomy at Glasgow McCloskey (S5) have both been University, delivered a short lecture selected for this honour. exploring Hawking’s research achievements. Representatives from National 4 pupils break new ground local secondary schools, including our own Nik Kolev, were presented with copies of international bestseller Pupils at St. Joseph’s who are taking A Brief History of Time to take back to National 4 level subjects only are their school libraries. This event was looking forward to study leave with a difference - they don’t have any! sponsored by the Scottish Government and British Science Instead they are undertaking an Association, as part of National exciting mix of work experience, inScience and Engineering Week house learning, community leadership 2014. and volunteering opportunities. The programme builds employability skills redblack magazine and confidence as well as links with We published the second issue of our future employers. Pupils are also taking the lead in finding their own school magazine online on April 4th experiences and planning activities that and issued it to all parents and they can lead for younger pupils. friends of St. Joseph’s by email. In
IMPORTANT DATES Paris Trip, May 1st - May 6th May Bank Holiday, May 5th Parent Council Meeting, May 12th, 7.00 pm Planned timetable change, May 19th SQA Exams April 30th English Int 1 & 2, National 5 May 1st English Higher and Advanced Higher May 2nd Music National 5 HELCT, Int 2 May 6th Maths (all levels) May 7th History (all levels) May 8th Italian (all levels) May 9th Administration (all levels) May 12th Chemistry (all levels) May 13th Music Int 1 & 2 and Higher/ AH May 14th French (all levels) May 16th Biology (all levels) May 19th Business Management (all levels)
WEEKLY HOME ROOM REFLECTION Ordinarily we would print the weekly reflection said by pupils in Home Room here. However the tragic events at Corpus Christi College, Leeds, mean that we are printing instead a prayer which we would encourage all readers to say and reflect upon based on the words of that school’s parish priest. Prayers were offered in school for the College and Ann Maguire. We pray for the light of hope. Hope for the community of Corpus Christi College thet they will come to terms, eventually, with what has happened. We pray for all those young people at the school and their teachers. We pray for Ann's family and friends. We pray for Ann. We offer prayers too for the family of the man who, unfortunately, did what he did. We pray for ourselves. Amen. PARISH MASS TIMES St. Matthewʼs: 9.30 am, Fr. Chambers ! St. Michaelʼs: 4.30 pm (vigil) ! ! St. Paulʼs: 11.30 am, Fr. Chambers! St. Sophiaʼs: 6.00 pm (vigil) Fr. Chambers St. Francis Xavier, Patna: 5.00 pm (vigil)!
! ! ! !! !
! ! ! ! !
St. Josephʼs: 6.00 pm (vigil), 11.00 am Fr. Latham Our Lady of Mount Carmel: 9.30 am, Fr. McGhee Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick: 6.00 pm (vigil), Fr. McGrattan St. Thomas the Apostle: 9.00 am, Fr. McGrattan St. John the Evangelist: 10.45 am, Fr. McGrattan