ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY Weekly Newsletter
ISSUE 28.1 MAY 31ST
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 Some of our Readers’ Cup Team hard at work during the quiz.
S4 Mountain Biking On Thursday May 16th 13 pupils, 5 teacher and Chris Bole from local company Sprockets Cycles ventured out for the first time on the school’s new mountain bikes. The bikes are part of St Joseph’s Academy’s Mountain Bike Project, which aims to promote healthy living by introducing mountain biking into its already diverse and exciting Health and Wellbeing curriculum. Principal Teacher of Health & Wellbeing Mr John McQuade, was accompanied by teachers Miss McLuckie, Miss Allan, Mr McGarry and Mr Ritson. Mr McQuade said about the day: “The day was a great success, giving pupils the opportunity to experience a different activity using local amenities. This is something we are incorporating into our curriculum for next year to encourage and develop lifelong learning, whilst actively promoting Health & Wellbeing”. The new S4 pupils started the day with bike maintenance, an obstacle course and some skills building. The
group then left from the school to cycle to Craufurdland Estate a few miles away. The group enjoyed an afternoon of offroad mountain-biking in the fantastic setting of the estate. They experienced a very testing set of tracks ranging from beginner to advanced levels. There was plenty of mud, mayhem and midges! Images and video footage of the thrills and spills will be uploaded to the school website soon. It is fair to say that everyone was left feeling exhilarated by the events of the day. Pupil William McDonald said, “Having this type of facility on my doorstep is absolutely amazing. I will use the trails more often in the future and I am keen to help fund and maintain the trails. I was thinking about doing a sponsored cycle to help generate funds and awareness of what is on offer and needed at Craufurdland.” Craufurdland is hosting a number of cycling events and open competitions as part of their race series over the coming weeks. All other dates and details can be found on the estates website: www.craufurdland.co.uk. As part of our highly sucessful Business Advocates programme we intend to
develop our relationship with the estate. The bikes were purchased from local shop Sprockets Cycles, who kindly loaned us shop manager Chris Boles for a few hours to demonstrate to the pupils how to ride the trails with style. Sprockets owner, Craig Paton, and Chris were instrumental in securing St Joseph’s Academy an unbeatable deal. This also allowed locally generated business to stay here in Kilmarnock. The Interaction Project Next Steps You may remember that back in February St Joseph’s Academy scooped best Partnership Design in the EAC Interaction Project competition. Following on from this success we brought together a number of influential business people and entrepreneurs, including Craig Stevenson (Braehead foods and Cook School), David Ross (Keppie Design), Ken Whip (Entrepreneurial Spark) and Fiona Nicolson (EAC Town Centre Manager) to discuss the feasibility of progressing with the Interaction Project Design: a mobile food servery and kitchen. The outcome of these discussions was very positive so look out for more information on the Interaction Project.