August 26 parent news 2013

ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY Weekly Newsletter

ISSUE 1.2 AUGUST 26TH

2013 FOR PARENTS, CARERS, FAMILIES & PARISHES

Ben Davis, Acting Headteacher Grassyards Rd Kilmarnock KA3 7SL 01563 526144 www.saintjosephsacademy.co.uk Twitter: @StJoAcad

INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM: Our pupils bask in This is St. Joseph’s: exam outstanding exam success this summer success all round in 2013 We are delighted to report that our whole school results were some of the best ever with many pupils exceeding their prelim results and enjoying excellent grades in the sunshine.

Pupils across all three examination year groups showed that their hard work and dedication (and that of their teachers) had paid off on August 6th.

Many pupils went beyond what was expected and several did so despite some seemingly overwhelming obstacles.

We are very proud of all of our examination pupils and will be featuring more pictures of them and some of the stories behind the stats over the coming weeks. In the meantime we want to say a big, “Well done!’ to you all and wish you the very best for the future.

Top (l to r): Melissa Watt and Mahrukh Mirza (five As at Higher). Bottom: Ramsay Heron-Cunningham, Monica Ainsworth, Daniel Johnstone, Ellis Dunachie and Paul Murray (all of whom achieved eight ones or As in S4)

SENIOR TIE: we are pleased to see many seniors wearing their new ties, now available from Ayrshire Schoolwear. Don’t they look smart. Get yours now and wear it with pride.

Martial Arts Glory for S1 New S1 pupil Lennon Yankouskie has already made an impression on St. Joseph’s after only two weeks.

During July Lennon won the title of Tae Kwondo World Champion in his height class at the championships in Coventry.

We are very impressed with Lennon’s achievement, as were the S6 pupils who congratulated him and hi-fived him as he waited for his photo to be taken. We wish Lennon every success in his future endeavours in Tae Kwondo.

We are always pleased to hear about the successes and achievements of pupils outside school and encourage parents and carers to contact their child’s Pupil Support teacher with any good news.

Sri Lankan partnership develops Social Subjects teacher Mrs. Fulton journeyed to Sri Lanka during the summer holidays to meet with teachers and pupils of our partner school, Holy Trinity in Pusselawa. We are very pleased to announce that staff from Sri Lanka will be joining us next week as part of a week-long visit to Scotland supported by the British Council. We look forward to meeting them and we are sure the school community will make them feel welcome.

Concert for Ecuador: Martin Aelred This coming Saturday (August 31st) at 7.30 pm we are very pleased to host a concert by top Scottish tenor Martin Aelred in support of our work for the parish and school in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Tickets cost £5 and are only available on the door. There will also be refreshments and a raffle. Eight pupils are heading to Ecuador in October for a week. Please support this cause.

Our 2013 Results Headlines The measures used for exam results across the country show that we achieved improvements in 5 out of the 7 measures and secured our best ever results (taken over 10 years of available data) in four of these measures. We also enjoy the best results in East Ayrshire in three of these measures and we are top three in the local authority in 6 of them.

Pupils achieving 5 results @ level 3 in S4 Pupils achieving 5 results @ level 4 in S4 Pupils achieving 5 results @ level 5 in S4

100% 75% 39%

Pupils achieving 1 or more Higher in S5 Pupils achieving 3 or more Highers in S5 Pupils achieving or 5 more Highers in S5 Pupils achieving 1 or more Advanced Highers in S6 (NB: all data is pre-appeal and may be adjusted upward after appeals) Senior School Awards Evening

New staff

This year’s Senior School (S4 - S6) Awards ceremony for last year’s pupils takes place on Thursday, September 12th at 7 pm.

We are pleased to welcome the following new staff to St. Joseph’s: Mr Howson (PE), Mrs Conroy (HE), Miss Welsh (Maths), Miss Geary (English), Miss Horrey (Biology) and Miss Northcote (HE).

We will be presenting awards that recognise excellence and endeavour in all areas of the curriculum and school life, including performance in the recent exams.

As well as the awards there will be a number of musical items and some refreshments. We are honoured to announce that our special guest to present the awards is Scottish composer and local lad, James MacMillan.

If your son or daughter is receiving an award they will soon receive a letter informing them of this. A rehearsal will take place on the day of the ceremony and all pupils are expected to wear full school uniform if they are accepting an award.

We very much hope that you are able to join us for this important event in our school calendarIt is always a pleasure to celebrate the talents and achievements of pupils.

50% 28% 14.5% 19%

IMPORTANT DATES Parents’ Evenings October 1st: S1 Settling-in Night November 26th: S4 Parents’ Evening January 14th: S3 Options Evening January 28th: S5/6 Parents’ Evening

We were also sorry to say farewell last week to Mrs Templeman, who left to take up a new post in Kirkintilloch. We wish her the very best and thank her for the past four years of work.

February 18th: S3 Parents’ Evening

Sad news

Prelims

It was with great sadness that we learnt last week of the death of Mrs. Gerry Ingram, a former teacher of Biology at St. Joseph’s. Gerry joined the staff in 1983 and remained with us until she took early retirement in 2008. She will be greatly missed by family and friends.

Her funeral takes place on Wednesday, August 28th at 10 am in St. Joseph’s Church.

S4 04.12.13 - 11.12.13

London Trip 2014: payment due

Parent Council

This session’s trip is currently being organised and any pupil who is going should make the next payment on August 30th - thank you.

The next Parent Council meeting takes place on Monday, September 2nd at 7 pm. New members are always very welcome.

March 11th: S2 Parents’ Evening May 20th: S1 Parents’ Evening

S5/6 14.02.14 - 21.02.14 SQA Exams The summer exams begin on April 29th and finish on June 6th. The full timetable for all exams can be downloaded from ww.sqa.org.uk

Home Room Weekly Reflection: Mother Teresa of Calcutta Born in Albania on this day in 1910 was the girl who grew up to be Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who worked with the poorest of the poor in India. A journalist once asked Mother Teresa why she bothered working with the poor in Calcutta, because it was all just a drop in the ocean - there being millions of poor people in India. Mother Teresa said in reply that she was not concerned with a big way of doing things - she was concerned with individuals: “This person”, she pointed to someone, “thinks it makes all the difference!”

Let us pray: Loving Lord, inspire me to be welcoming and generous in my attitude to others, showing individuals that they matter and are important.

May I make a difference to someone in my part of the world today.

Amen.

PARISH MASS TIMES St. Matthewʼs: 10.00 am, Fr. Chambers ! !

St. Michaelʼs: 12.00 noon, Fr. McGhee ! !

St. Paulʼs: 9.30 am, Fr. Lawson ! ! !

St. Sophiaʼs: 11.30 am Fr. Lawson ! !

Our Lady & St. John: 6.00 pm (vigil), Fr. Chambers

St. Josephʼs: 6.00 pm (vigil), 11.00 am Fr. Latham Our Lady of Mount Carmel: 9.00 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