redblack issue 3

redblack// THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF ST. JOSEPH’S ACADEMY, KILMARNOCK ISSUE 3// SUMMER 2014

in this issue//

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Change and transition: what is it and how do we mark it?

S3 Fiction on the theme of identity S3 Diploma of Achievement S1 and S2 Awards ceremonies Transition in Cities and much more/

A Prayer for the Year’s End Christ, Teacher and Lord, bless all in this school as we seek to end our year with the grace you so generously provide. We give thanks for the pupils, the staff, those who have worked with the school and all who have contributed to this year of nurturing and growth.

We look back on, and give thanks for, all the positive moments: moments of love, moments of insight, of the excitement of learning, of accomplishment, of creativity, of laughter, of a sense of community. We give thanks for things that have brought us together and the memories that have been created, that we will now share forever.

We recognize the times of struggle, of difficult work, of misunderstanding, even of failure--we give these to you for transformation, so they can become seeds that will find fertile soil.

We look back on times when relationships have become fractured, particularly when it was difficult to heal these disagreements. We ask for forgiveness and for the courage to start anew, even when people have hurt us.

As we leave for the summer may we take with us the knowledge that you will keep us all in your embrace so we may rest and be restored and so we can continue in the ongoing journey of learning at school, returning in August safe and well and ready to begin again.

We ask this prayer through Christ, Our Lord, Amen.

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on June 6th we planted our Tree of Hope for Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing //

contents// FEATURES S1 Opinions

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Farewell...

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Introductions

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Macbeth

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Introducing the Pupil Leadership Team

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S1 Visit Calderglen Country Park

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Amelie’s French Spelling Bee

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St. Joseph’s Academy Bake-off

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A trip around Cumbrae

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New S4 literacy success

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The John Muir Award in S2 and S3

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Y-Dance Workshops

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redblack theatre company reconvenes

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June News round-up

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Pupil artwork

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Changing countries p. 12 This year’s S2 Paris trip, by pupil Erin Lannie Cities in Transition p. 14 Guest contributor David Ross of Keppie Design considers the changing face of the urban landscape Changing Lives in Tanzania p. 18 Former pupils Mahrukh and Shahrukh Mirza reflect on a recent trip to Africa Changing Lives through Love p. 22 Heather O’Rourke (S6) writes about the transformational effect of the Caritas Award Small change? p. 24 Two enterprise projects Changing Faces p. 26 Original fiction from four S3 pupils exploring identity Changing Rooms p. 40 From Commonwealth Baton Bearers to Sports Day: all the sporting action from the last few months Changing uniform p.47 P7 transition report Changing Stages p. 52 VOID2014, our pupil-led music festival Change and Growth p. 58 Looking back at our three June Celebrating Achievement events Changing Planes p. 70 Morgan McKenna on her sky-dive for Ecuador PUPIL ARTWORK

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Cover (left): Bethany More p. 27: Skye Leitch p. 32: James Johnston p. 37: Skye Leitch p. 72: Shannon Martin p. 73: Samantha McGarva p. 74: Nadia Varani p. 76: Kieran Jones

Music because I think the teachers are amazing.

Ciara The Friday period 2 rotation because I learned how save someoneʼs life.

Megan Maybe have double periods in certain subjects.

Megan More LS360 and PE as they are helpful.

Oscar More after school activities because I would like to learn guitar and canʼt find a place to do it.

Zoe

I would like to pick more of my subjects like we did for the elective period on a Friday.

Isla

what has been your favourite subject in S1? how could we make S1 even better? if you could have more of something in school what would it be?

S1 OPINIONS

... of my friends.

Ciara ... the people I have met are surely the best and also the teachers.

04 Flavie

I love being a pupil at St. Joseph’s because...

French , because we do fun activities that help us to learn new words. The booklets that contain all the new words are very helpful.

PE. I love being active.

Joe Maths because I like the way my teacher teaches.

Amelie

Kensie

More variety instead of rotations

Nothing.

Life School 360 because it teaches you a lot more about life.

Oscar Home Room is great - it始s my second family.

Flavie Change practical classes every year.

Kensie Ciara More LS360, Art and Music.

Joe Have gymnastics in PE in S1.

Ebony

Emma More Maths and HE Kensie Longer blocks for rotations.

Amelie

I feel like S1 aren始t getting enough trips: yes we can learn in school but most things improve if you have experience.

More PE because as you know the there are lots of people in Britain who are overweight or unfit.

Also I think it is fun.

To be able to spend more time with our Pupil Support teachers.

Amelie LifeSchool 360 because it joins all of the other subjects together.

Lauren

Isla

Give me double PE because I want to learn more about sports.

I would like more Drama as, embarrassing as it can be, it始s important to explore it as a subject.

Jodie Ciara

Flavie

... I have learned so much more since primary and we have more choices.

Isla

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... of the different experiences Oscar

... I始ve got lots of friends and I think that most of the subjects gave changed me into being a confident and mature person.

Hildah

... there are lots of interesting subjects and all the teachers have different personalities Zoe

farewells// The end of every session sees some staff leave for new opportunities. Here, five say their goodbyes.

My time at St. Joseph’s has been a happy year.

I’ve been privileged to work with such a fantastic, supportive department and have had the pleasure of teaching some wonderful, hardworking, truly talented pupils. Taking part in school trips and events around the school has given me the opportunity to meet and work with so many more fantastic young people. It is with a heavy heart and fond memories I say farewell. I’d like to thank the St. Joseph’s family for all the support and encouragement I’ve received over the last year and wish all my former pupils good luck in the future.

Alice-Rose Geary, English Department Becoming a member of St. Joseph’s Academy has been a thrilling and wonderful experience. It has been a second home for me this last year and I cannot believe how much support I have received from both pupils and staff. What a year it has been.

St Joseph’s you have allowed me to take part, you have inspired me and you have also encouraged me to make a difference. I know it has only been one year since I became a part of the St. Joseph’s family but I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the amazing times that I have spent with you. You have helped me begin a new and exciting journey and I am sad to be leaving so soon but I hope that I have inspired you to begin a happy and successful journey of your own. As Walt Disney said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”.

So live out your dreams, be all you can be and reach for the stars. God bless.

Ashley Northcote, PE & Health and Wellbeing Department

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Well, what can I say? It has been a pleasure to teach alongside the staff and teach the young people of St Joseph’s. I can’t quite believe my year here is finished. Time really does fly when you’re enjoying yourself! Thanks to everyone that got involved with Crafty Maths, Ramp Up The Red, Pi Day and Jump Rope For Heart. Thanks to my colleagues in the Maths department for making it a truly great experience.

Thanks for the memories.

Amy Welsh, Maths Department I would like to thank everyone in the St Joseph's community for all of their support over my 5 years in the Pupil Support department. I have met some very interesting people both old and young who have taught me lots about myself. Building positive relationships is very important to me and it is something that comes easy when you work in a great school with wonderful young people. It has been my pleasure. Mrs C x Helen Cassidy, Principal Teacher of Pupil Support “It’s not quite goodbye from me, just au revoir. I am looking forward to spending a year at the University of Glasgow working with students training to be modern languages teachers. I will most definitely miss the pupils and lovely colleagues here at St Joseph’s, but will still be involved with the Ecuador group as much as possible.”

Ann McDaid, Principal Teacher of Modern Languages Also leaving are: Mr. Docherty (Art, Design and Technology) and Mrs. Duncan (Music).

introductions// Three ‘welcomes’ for price of one: from parents, teachers and pupils.

A very warm welcome to redblack once again Packed full of stories from our school domain We hope you enjoy issue number three Where pupils’ success is plain to see Our Parent Council would like you all to hear That we appreciate your support this past year Prizes donated and raffle tickets bought Helped the purchase of lockers our pupils sought Your thoughts and views as well as your chatter At parents’ evenings really do matter We are always happy to hear from you all With suggestions and ideas however small Please continue to support us in any way you are able Come and join the PC be a voice around our table Expressive and forthright we are encouraged to be By our dedicated Headteacher and inspiring SMT If a monthly meeting is not really for you Then help us to fundraise if you have an idea or two Don’t be shy please get in touch A little involvement would mean so much Enjoy the summer before the new school year With exams all finished and results eager to hear A fond farewell and good luck to all our S6 A cheerful hello to our new enthusiastic S1 mix So read on and enjoy be prepared to be impressed What goes on in school some things you would never have guessed Be inspired by our children being all they can be Part of the St. Joseph’s caring and welcoming family.

As ever, we are keen to hear from you with regards any aspect of school life.

We are fortunate to have a Senior Management Team who values our opinions and actively seeks our view point, therefore it would be such a shame to disappoint! Chat to us in school or drop us an email at stjosephsacademyparentcouncil@hotmail.co.uk

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Noreen Dunnachie, Chair, Parent Council

introductions// Introducing our new Head Boy and Head Girl.

One of the most important issues that we, as the Pupil Leadership Team, want to focus on is communicating the thoughts, suggestions, and concerns of all pupils.

The Pupil Council is the most obvious way that we can begin to deal with issues which matter to pupils – of course though, in order to have an impact, we will bring the Pupil Council together to meet far more often than in previous years.

As far as we, the Pupil Leadership Team, are concerned, St Joseph’s Academy is not a place where pupils come to absorb knowledge through osmosis; rather, it is a community in which we share learning and friendships. On the wall of the street area, there is a quote: “Education is a conversation – so talk”. So let’s talk. We are a community.

So it’s important that the problems faced by pupils are brought to the attention of the SMT. If there is one thing that we, in Pupil Leadership, are as individuals - it’s persistent, and we intend to use that fully to effect positive change in our school community.

Our school draws strength from its sense of community which, in turn, often comes from people’s involvement in numerous after-school groups. We would like to grow the impact of these groups (whether that’s done by increasing the number and range of activities or concentrating on investing more in current groups). There is nothing that we will not consult other pupils on.

St Joseph’s is a place where we have developed the environment of learning with the final aim to create a place where all pupils can grow to their full potential.

Daniel Johnston, Head Boy Sarah Kelly, Head Girl

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introductions// The only certainty is change and more change? Isn’t that what many people feel? In this edition of our school magazine we are exploring ideas of change and transition. And what better time of year to do it than the period when we leave one academic session behind and, after a summer holiday, look forward to another.

In this issue of redblack, the third this year, we have chosen to focus on the themes of change and transition. The months of May and June are, in any secondary school, probably the most change-filled period of the year. We welcome new S1 pupils as they approach the end of their primary schooling; we say goodbye to our leavers; we watch with anxiety and the memory of our own experience as S4 - S6 pupils sit public exams; we recognise achievements; we bid farewell to members of staff and plan for the forthcoming session; we look forward to the summer and the changing season. This is all part of the rhythm of life in a school, but rarely do we pause and reflect.

This year has seen two very significant and challenging changes: new national examinations and a deep and profound focus on mental health and wellbeing. The results for S4 in August will probably be the most eagerly awaited for many a generation and I have every confidence that thanks to the commitment of staff and pupils they will be a very positive reflection of the school.

Developing a whole school strategy for mental health and wellbeing has been even more of a defining issue than the new exams - it certainly carries with it a greater legacy. It is something that we will take with us into next session as we continue to make health and wellbeing our first priority: without it nothing else is of consequence or value. The work we have undertaken this year has contributed to a subtle shift in our school aims and vision as we seek to become a school that nurtures a world-class pupil experience.

In this issue you can see change and transition for yourself. You can meet our new pupil leadership team, view the work of pupils and sense their growth in skill and mindset and read about the experiences that have transformed them and others. Learning brings change - it is unavoidable - and as a school we recognise and celebrate the responsibilities and opportunities this brings to make creative, exciting, enriching change. I hope you feel that this is represented in this bumper edition of redblack.

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My sincere thanks to staff, parents and carers for another wonderful year at St. Joseph’s Academy and to pupils for continuing to inspire their teachers as much as they seek to inspire. Particular thanks must go to Noreen and the Parent Council for their additional work this year. Have a fantastic summer.

Ben Davis, Acting Headteacher

What the pupils said about the Macbeth workshops

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explained a lot in the time given...great seeing the play from an actor’s point of view...learning about Greek Theatre and tragedy was fascinating...offered a fresh perspective on the play...now much more aware of staging...added to our knowledge of the historical context of the play...Joe was an amazing ‘teacher’ though he did not want to be thought of like that; he did not condescend or patronise us

the Scottish play// S4 pupil Lucy Williamson is one of a number of new S4 pupils who in a variety of subjects are bypassing National 5 in S4 and proceeding straight to Higher in S5. Where departments have elected to take this approach pupils are offered greater depth of learning and more time to explore ideas. Here Lucy reflects on the experience of exploring English literature through Drama. Pictures on facing page.

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It’s a completely new way of looking at our English experience

Higher English seems like a scary thought.

everyone was eager to find out how it would look as a performance.

The time spent writing essays and completing close reading papers feels almost endless and many people would think that it’s even harder for this year group having moved on from S3 to suddenly be studying Macbeth in a two year higher. Thankfully, that is not the case.

Split into three groups, we chose our roles and began to practise our lines. We tried to set up the ‘stage’, but sooner or later Joe came over to help us with our placement of props and actors. We were able to see where actors would stand at different parts of the scene depending on their importance and we were able to understand why the props would be set out in the places that they were.

Having Higher spread over a period two years allows us the freedom to explore our work in more detail and to really get a feel for the play. Learning about Macbeth has been very fun over the past month or so, with opportunities to perform different scenes. Actor, Joe Gallagher took our class for an afternoon to help us work on our acting and to show us examples of effective stage setup. It was a very interesting afternoon and it certainly gave us an insight into the climax of the play, the Banquet scene.

Having spent a few weeks reading over the scene and learning about the themes and emotions,

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Performing one of the most important scenes of the play has been very useful, especially when we’re figuring out the main emotions of the scene.

It has helped to give us a view of a characters mind-set and to act on that when we’re performing.

Being able to perform it means that we know the scene inside out, but the best part is being able to get there through drama. It’s much more enjoyable than sitting in class and it is a completely new way of looking at our English experience.

S2 Paris trip// For years Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Wilson have been running an annual excursion to Paris for S2 pupils. This year, sadly, saw the last of these trips. Here Erin Lannie, S2, summarises the visit and shares some memories.

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a great experience for all and we would definitely go back again

year pupils went on a five day long trip to Paris, France.

On Sunday, we spent the full day at Disneyland Paris Resort, and everyone (even the teachers) enjoyed the various rides, parades and shops it had to offer.

We travelled there by bus and boat on an overnight trip. We stayed in the Fiap hotel, where we were provided with breakfast and dinner every morning and evening.

After a quick stop back at the Fiap, we visited the 56 floor Montparnasse tower, which is taller than the Eiffel Tower and has amazing views of all of Paris.

On the night of our arrival, we went for a boat ride along the River Seine, and saw a lot of the famous monuments, including the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up by the time it got dark.

Our last day in Paris was Monday, and we visited the Stade de France, where we were given a guided tour all around the stadium, and into the changing rooms where we saw all of the football strips that famous players had worn.

On the first day of May 2014, forty two second

On our second day, we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral, then made our way to the Champs Elysees, where we were allowed some free time to get lunch and browse the shops. After, we went to the Montmartre, and some of the pupils got their portraits done by some of the local artists.

Later that day, we visited the Eiffel Tower and managed to get up the the second level, which had a fantastic view.

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After the tour, we left Paris for Calais to get our boat, making a stop to the shopping centre for a late lunch and a chance to buy souvenirs. We set off for Scotland again after arriving in Dover, and getting back to Kilmarnock at 7:00am.

Overall, the Paris trip was a great experience for all the pupils who went on the trip, and we would definitely go back on again.

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perhaps the future will resemble the past more than many of us might have been led to expect

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cities in transition// BRAVE NEW WORLD: TRANSITION AND CHANGE IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT In keeping with the theme of this issue David Ross, Design Director at Glasgow’s Keppie Design, who spoke at our acclaimed Enspire Festival last summer, explores the ideas of change and transition in cities. (Graphic by Kepie Design)

What will the architecture of the future be like?

It’s an intriguing question and one which - of all the professionals involved in the creation of our built environment - architects are best placed to respond to. Imagining the future is a past-time which all designers indulge in. It is usually supported by other media which has considered the issue for its own ends. Films such as Metropolis, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element or Brazil are traditionally favourites of many architects because of a vivid depiction of a type of future-city which technological advances underpin. As visually interesting and provocative as they are though, the urban cityscapes in such films invariably utilise a vision of mankind’s future as an additional character to propel the plot. As such the focus is often on how technology is likely to triumph over basic aspects of reality such as gravity or the natural rhythm of the seasons.

There are more straightforward explanations for the architect’s interest in the future. As students we were encouraged to understand how things have been and to analyse how they are now in order to explore how they might be. This is the essence of design process but it also recognises that architecture is a relatively slow moving art which must be in tune with socio-economic developments and cultural nuances for its perpetual redrafting of our desired environment.

Towns and cities are constantly changing but just at a pace that most people rarely notice.

With the economic downturn still affecting investment, many in public sector organisations are now faced with retention, maintenance and refurbishment of older buildings in a retained

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estate where previously the imperative to demolish and redevelop might have been seen as less complex. I suspect most architects might welcome this shift in emphasis as breathing new life into old buildings and working within the constraints of an existing established fabric can often be more interesting. In the contradiction between the momentum of global developments and the wish for personal stability, the aesthetic of the past also seems to promise an obvious way out of the dilemmas of the present. That is why sustainability in architecture is so closely associated with the way things have always been. After all if such problems as environmental pollution, resource shortages and alienation from other people didn’t exist before, why can’t we simply go back to ‘the good old days’?

A slightly flawed logic such as this tries to convey the message that what looks like an old building also functions like one, and what looks as though it is old will also last longer. The drive towards the future then clearly contains an ironic dilemma.

How can we develop new and ‘innovative’ responses to design problems when the predominant phenomena of our age suggests that we look backward to a time when local materials were utilized in a sensible and natural manner, when mass was the major consideration in the conservation of energy and patron’s expectations of budget were perhaps more attuned to their aspirations.

Therein lays the basis of this thesis. If our lifestyles are developing in a way where either through personal choice, technological development or moral exigent, a more community-orientated environment where people live, work and play in smaller, more self-supporting environments which have diversity, hierarchy and character due to an appropriately considered mix of the old, the new, the ordinary and the special, then perhaps the future will resemble the past more than many of us might have been led to expect.

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pupil leadership team

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Over newly selected and elected team introduce themselves and give a flavour of their manifesto for the coming session.

Head Boy: Daniel Johnston Head Girl: Sarah Kelly Deputy Head Boy: Ramsay Heron Cunningham Depyty Head Girl: Tatenda Tapatapa

As the formal leaders of the pupils within the school, we are pleased to be part of this team in supporting and contributing our ideas as well as yours to the rest of the school. We want to thank all those who voted and supported us. Without all of your time and consideration, we would not be at this position, so thank you! We hope to MAKE A DIFFERENCE to the school and bring about new changes in our school community. We are an ambitious bunch of students and this year we definitely want more for our school. As your Head and Deputy, WORKING TOGETHER, we will ensure to give you our best at all times as a team.

Our team has already started to AIM HIGH and we hope you will thoroughly benefit from what we have to offer. We have also been considering creating more fundraising opportunities. This will introduce more charitable links with the school and will also benefit the school’s own needs. It will also be good to witness the school’s community develop positively through the many things that we will hope to do in order to narrow the social communication gaps between the year groups. School should be a place you look forward to because you have a good community where people THINK OF OTHERS.

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One of the projects we have in mind would be to build upon the successes of the senior debating of which some of us are members. In particular, we would like to see the creation of an official debating society for St. Joseph’s that could be a hub for sharing and challenging students’ views on both topical and contemporary issues. We feel this could enhance students’ awareness of current affairs and also provide useful skills in the form of public speaking and constructive debate (or rational argument depending upon your view.)

Also, we are seeking to promote and support the views of the newly inaugurated student council. We hope by the end of the year to see the student council granted a greater emphasis within the school and to increase its roles and responsibilities so that it may take a primary role in organising events around the school. It would grant us enormous pleasure to see the council act as a crucial forum for the views of students and for it to be a useful link between the pupils it serves and the teachers that support it.

This is an experience we will never forget. We must be extremely grateful for our education and the opportunity it has offered us. We continue to fundraise and welcome pupils who may be the next group to visit our family in Ecuador.

changing lives in Tanzania//

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It may seem like a small thing, but everyone’s eagerness to help that man made me indescribably happy

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Former pupils Shahrukh and Mahrukh Mirza write about the lifechanging experience they had in June working in Tanzania. Shahrukh is studying Medicine at Edinburgh and hopes to become a neuro-surgeon, whilst Mahrukh, who is awaiting her S6 results, takes up a place in Medicine at Aberdeen University in September.

At the start of June, my brother (Shahrukh) and I (Mahrukh), former pupils of St Joseph’s Academy, spent two weeks in Tanzania. We went with an organisation called Gap Medics who are absolutely great and I’d recommend them to anyone. I think we can both honestly say it was one of the best experiences of our life. Africa was amazing and so educational! We even learned quite a lot of the language they speak in Tanzania (Swahili).

Shahrukh was really good at picking it up; I was distinctly average. But I still learned a lot, especially since we had Swahili lessons every couple of nights.

So on the weekdays, my brother and I, (along with a bunch of other students) worked at the hospital, rotating between different departments, including surgery, paediatrics and internal medicine. We mainly shadowed the doctors (they were really happy when we greeted them in Swahili!) who were really helpful and lovely- they always encouraged us to ask questions and I think we’ve both learned more from them in these couple of weeks than we have in any other work experience we’ve ever done. Moreover, we had a lot of fun since it wasn’t just theoretical learning; we had a lot of contact with the patients too. I even had the opportunity to resuscitate a baby and my brother suggested the drugs which cured a patient of tuberculosis (TB)!

My brother and I saw a lot of things in surgery as well- nothing in British hospitals can faze us now!

Sure, it was painful seeing everyone so badly hurt, especially the children but that pain was overruled by seeing how amazing the doctors were in theatre and how hard they worked to ensure that their patients got better. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have as much money or as many resources as British doctors - they’re still incredible. They do everything they can with whatever materials they have. They have to cope and they do cope and it is brilliant and inspiring.

For a few nights every week, we had lectures from the doctors. We learned a lot about global health issues and the diseases which are most prominent in Tanzania, for example, malaria, HIV, TB etc. It was fascinating to learn more about such infamous diseases. It was also great to learn more about the health scene in Tanzania. In fact, that made me

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realise that I’d like to go back out there and help people gain some health education: this would reduce the occurrence of some lethal diseases which could easily be prevented with a little caution.

We also spent a lot of time at the orphanage. It was wonderful getting to know all the children and playing with them. They were really fascinated by our cameras and phones and we found quite a few posers! We loved seeing their smiles as we gave them our gifts- it really is better to give than to receive.

With that in mind, there was a man in the hospital who was unable to afford the medication to remove a tumour from his mouth. The medicine was necessary to save the man’s life yet he couldn’t buy it even though it was really cheap. My brother, myself and all the other students we were with, chipped-in to buy the medicine and food for that man and his family. I loved how everyone unanimously decided to help the man. It may seem like a small thing, but everyone’s eagerness to help that man made me indescribably happy.

It really was like we had a family over there. We all went swimming and played football together (it got super competitive) and we even played hide and seek together! It’s not like we had a television or a computer or good Wi-Fi in the house we were staying in, so we enjoyed each other’s company instead. I think that’s what made us so close in the end.

Tanzania. It was magnificent. The two weeks that we spent there were two of the most inspiring weeks of our lives. Every day there are people here in the UK complaining about the NHS and our other health facilities. People in Tanzania can barely afford their healthcare! Countries like Tanzania do not have a lot of money, so people over there do not even get anaesthesia for little things like we do. I’ve seen a child screaming in pain because he couldn’t get anaesthesia; the women give birth without anaesthesia either. And yet we have the audacity to complain. Instead of complaining, we should try and do something to change this situation for other people around the world. The one thing I think everyone took away from Tanzania was that we have to be a little more unselfish, a little more caring, a little more kind.

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My trip was really fun. It was amazing seeing all the animals.

Ashton Little At the trip we saw lots of fish, birds, lizards, snakes, plants that eat animals, owls, Scottish wild cats, monkeys and Meerkats We went for a river walk and saw art work. Then we back to school on the mini-bus.

We went to see the meerkats as they show us how we can work together to help each other.

Meerkats have four toes.

They can run at 37 miles per hour.

Alistair McClung

They are immune to venom from snakes and scorpions.

The can look directly in to the sun and signal with their tails .

They open or close their ears to keep sand out of them when burrowing and blink often to remove dirt from their eyes.

The eat snakes, spiders, scorpions, lizards, plant eggs and other creepy crawlies.

Mary Young

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calderglen visit// Mrs. McDowall and Mrs. Kirk recently led a group of S1 pupils on a trip to Calderglen Park.

Here Megan Stuart and the other pupils reflect on their experiences.

We, the Nurture Group, went to Calderglen Country Park to see Meerkats in particular because our group’s name instead of ‘the Nurture Group’ is ‘TEAM’ and because Meerkats work as a ‘TEAM’ we went to see how they worked together.

We started off by going into the exotic area which was muggy because the plants and animals come from different parts of the world. There were quite a few different types of creatures like: geckos, different types of fish, stick insects, snake, Egyptian tortoises, monkeys and lots of different plants. We saw bananas growing.

Then we went outside to see other animals like the laughing thrush, wallabies, a wildcat, owls, a variety of birds, guinea-pigs and chipmunks.

Once we had seen all the animals inside and outside, we went for a walk to the park and we played for one hour. We played tag, hide and seek then hidey tag. It was soo much FUN! Then after we had a while at the park it was time for lunch. We went to the Café area to have our lunch. It didn’t take us that long to have it, and while we were eating this lady came over and said to us that there’s an art gallery on, so once we finished we went into the gallery to have a look.

There were so many pictures and jewellery (they were FANTASTIC!). My favourite pictures were the Cheetah and Rapunzel. That was done by a 17 year old!

After that we went for a walk by the river, but before we got anywhere near the river we saw this

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bush-tree thing and it had a hole you could climb through. All of us were climbing the branches and I fell out of one of the branches and I got stuck (it was so funny…ha ha ha).

We went for the rest of our walk. It didn’t take us that long to get to the river really- it only felt like 5 minutes but it was actually half an hour. We went up and downhill and we got to the river. Then a horse came from the same route as we did. It was a beautiful horse and we were watching it for about ten minutes. Then we carried on walking to go back so we could be picked up to come back to school. We crossed so many bridges and I hate them, but I quickly walked across them. Then we had to stand on a big, long bridge for some pictures. (I hated it!)

Before we knew it we were back at the car park and before we left to come back to school we were allowed to go to the gift-shop. There were so many things to pick and I got quite a few gifts. My favourite thing I bought was Super Bouncing Putty.

(It’s Awesome.)

After we went to the gift-shop we had enough time to see the Meerkats one last time and there was one that was such a poser!

We went into the car park to get picked up to come back to school. We were waiting for the bus for 20 minutes but that was because we were early.

So I would describe the Calderglen trip as fun, adventure, and great.Thank you Mrs McDowall and Mrs Kirk!! It was awesome!

changing through love// We are now in our second year of presenting S6 pupils for the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland Pope Benedict Caritas Award. This year 22 pupils achieved this accolade which recognises service to the school, community and parish motivated by love and Gospel values. Heather O’Rourke tells the moving story of her Caritas journey.

Through participating in Caritas I have been able to strengthen my connection with my faith.

Throughout the award I have been able to establish myself within a parish more emphatically than I have been previous to the Caritas year. I understand myself more because Caritas has allowed me to see and challenge parts of myself that otherwise I would overlook or undermine. I understand a great deal about my faith and what it actually is about in a matured way through completing work within my parish and my local and wider community. I have learned about fulfillment. I know now that true content does not come from receiving; it comes from giving yourself fully and entirely to a good cause – this is exactly what Caritas has pushed me to do. .. .... .... .... .... ..................................................

I h av e b een abl e to st rengt hen my co nne cti on w ith m y fa it h .. .... .... .... .... ..................................................

Throughout my Caritas journey I was blessed to be able to visit a poverty stricken town in Ecuador.

Throughout this journey I was surrounded by spirituality and hope. I was also surrounded by the downfall of a country and the people whom this affected. I relate my feelings of the need for selfgiving during this experience to the words of Pope Benedict XVI, he said: “I wish to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others”

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In a place, which lacks in many areas, love must compensate. It was astounding to me how much the people I met followed this. They had nothing and for as long as we were there they gave us more than they could afford to give us. It was obvious to me that love given and received is what ....................................................................

i n a p l a c e w h i c h l a c k s i n m a n y a re a s , lo v e mu s t co mp en s a te .................................................................... keeps the town of Nueva Prosperina hopeful and thriving.

In Ecuador I thought about how I had been called to share love with my brothers and sisters in Ecuador in the same way God lavishes love upon us. I now understand that there are many reasons for an individual to live but the common thread is that we all have a duty to love.

During the year I got to thinking about the Popes words: “Anyone who says, “I love God”, and hates his brother is a liar.”

This is taken from the scripture of a reading from the First Letter Of John. I have been able to develop my understanding that, when as a catholic, we show our love and appreciation for God we mean it very truly. However, previously sometimes my actions towards those whom had done me wrong weren’t appropriate.

A natural retaliation to disagreement or wrongdoing is perhaps ignorance or hatred. However, I can

now see that in loving God unconditionally I must also love God’s children, my brothers and sisters, unconditionally. This has proven to be harder than it sounds but with God’s love it is possible. This is a message that I have taken from Caritas and one that I will continue to channel throughout my life.

My Caritas year was spent either in class discussing and trying to understand the words of the Pope and our faith better, in Ecuador in Sagrada Familia school in Nueva Prosperina and within my local parish. Through studying certain parts of scripture and the pope’s teachings I have learned a great deal. I have been able to open myself to a wisdom that I didn’t recognise before.

In Ecuador, I gave as much as I could spiritually to those in the town and within my parish I was able to reconnect with certain parts of my faith and raise awareness for the fundraising happening all the time for our brothers and sisters in Ecuador. .. .... .... .... .... ..................................................

the co mmo n threa d i s tha t we all h av e a du ty t o lov e

every day. “In God, and with God, I love the person I do not like or even know.” If everyone follows this love will conspire within all of us.

Mainly, Caritas has been the route of inspiration in my life right now. Inspiration is the backbone of making a difference in your life and the lives of others. The quote “Love grows through love” was really prominent to me. Love must be present for it to conspire. We must set the example by loving without limits in order to inspire others to love like us, and like God. “Love gives us the courage to keep living and working” also makes me think about how love really makes the world go round.

Love creates a functional environment.

With love, I now understand I can drive out hatred.

With love we grow as people and as a huge community. “Love is the light – and in the end the ....................................................................

I c a n d r i v e o u t h a t re d w i t h l o v e a n d w e g ro w a s p eo p le a n d a s a co mmu n it y ....................................................................

.. .... .... .... .... ..................................................

only light – that can illuminate a world grown dim”.

In these words, I have let go of what I thought, and what I was told, would make me happy.

Now, the definition of the word “neighbour” is clearer to me. Our “neighbour” is every single person in the world, anybody who comes into our lives under any circumstance. Through this new understanding I could understand that our love cannot be selective. We have an unlimited internal source of love and no matter whom the person is to us – we must love them.

I know now happiness just doesn’t exist without love in its purest form. I have cleared my head of everything I was told I should aim for, and now I have a clear vision in my head. All I need to aim for is love and happiness and each of those is nothing without the other.

Caritas brought me to thinking about how we can love someone we do not particularly like or even know. I came to the conclusion that if we assume the best in everyone around us we are able to love them. If someone hurts me or people in my life, I should still look for the good in them and try my hardest to forgive them, as God forgives us. As the Pope said: “Love of neighbour is a path that leads to the encounter with God” Through loving our neighbour we love God. Therefore, I now thrive to give love and be selfless

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I feel extremely blessed to have been part of this award. I have a new-found sense of pride in my spirituality and have been able to strengthen my faith and the faith of those around me, which is absolutely priceless.

Caritas has allowed me to work with local children, local adults, especially parishioners, and people in a different continent. However, at the end of the day I realise we are all the same.

We are all children of God and we must love each other in that way.

seize the day//

On Monday June 23

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we, Team Cafe Diem, went to Loudoun Academy to take part in the Sir Tom Hunter Enterprise Challenge. Our team was made up of eight pupils from a variety of year groups and our entry had been co-ordinated by Mr Ritson.

We were there to present our new business idea and hopefully to persuade Sir Tom to invest in it.

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Our team’s business plan was to develop a St Joseph’s House Coffee Blend and open a new coffee shop in the school with a modern twist of upcycled design and a social conscience.

Doon Academy won the challenge and £3,000, whilst we were awarded £500.

We all enjoyed the challenge and would like to take part next year. Watch this space to see our business take-off in August.

global market//

At the end of May a group of enterprising pupils, as part of their programme of study leave activities operated a stall on Kilmarnock’s famous Global Market. James Stephens and John Morgan were two of those pupils and they tell their story.

The Global Market was a way for myself and James being introduced to the working environment. This fantastic opportunity was given to us so quickly and therefore our feelings were mixed as we had no idea what to expect and we were also buzzing to get to the school and find out all this information from Mr Davis.

When we arrived at the school were got told that four boys from S5 and a classroom assistant (us along with Raymond Houston and Kyle Colquhoun and Mrs Cooper) were going down to the town’s King Street to set up a market stall that had various items such as paintings, stags heads, phone holders and Ecuadorian merchandise such as key rings, hats and t-shirts. These items all had the slogan ‘Mi Casa Es Tu Casa’ which means ‘My home is your home’. t The beginning of day one was a bit quiet as we expected, but then as the day went on we got sales thanks to John’s great selling techniques.

Our last day opened back down on our stall at 9

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am and business started to get better and more customers started to buy our products and order some of the Higher Photography pictures.

Well after the event we had a lot of admin to do and call our customers and arrange for their products to be picked up or posted out or confirm their selection. We have raised an outstanding sum of £87 pounds which will help various charities.

One of the questions we asked our fellow market salesmen is when this great market comes back to Kilmarnock and they told us it will return in September. So from there we went on and asked Mr Davis and Mr Ritson if we could have this opportunity to do it again, maybe for the full time length of the market running from Thursday to Sunday.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Davis, Mr Ritson, Mr McGarry and Fiona Nicolson, Town Centre Manager. Cheers again folks.

Identity 1: fiction// A short story from S3 pupil Morven Campbell explores the theme of identity.

“What’s that Papa?” I shout, pointing to something floating on the water surface. The sea is beautiful up her; warm, too, as the sun’s rays dance across the waves. Turquoise, like my tailand my eyes.

“We don’t have time for this, Siobhan!” calls Papa.

He’s annoyed with me- again. “We have to help the others with the boat!” I sigh, squinting at the mysterious object.

“But Papa, it’s moving!” It is, thrashing about like an octopus that’s lost a leg! I dart towards it, just in time to hear Papa shout my name, but too late for him to know I heard him…

As I draw nearer to the spluttering entity, I notice it has a bizarre orange ring fitted around its body.

Never seen any kind of animal that looks like that before… I’d better not get to close; Papa always says curiosity killed the catfish- whatever that means! Although it doesn’t look very dangerousbut ‘looks can be deceiving’, right? How many times have I heard that before.

Siobhan, with her turquoise eyes and beautiful, flowing blond hair, sweet angelic face- and bad tempered, stubborn bad attitude. Why do I have to be so pretty? I mean, it sounds selfish and stupid but- hang on… Is that thing shouting?

“Help!...” Its voice carries on the wind. I pause and listen intently. And then I hear a blood-curdling scream. I plunge under the waves, cutting my way through the water, heart pounding, blood rushing.

I’m strangely exhilarated, because this is my chance to shine, to show Papa I’m not useless, not stupid. There’s a merperson out there, perhaps injured; something’s gone horribly wrong with the boat. And I’m going to save them.

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My head breaks the surface of the water, and I wildly grab for the orange ring, pushing my hair out of my face and breathing heavily.

“What is this thing?!” I scream at the person, struggling to try and reach a sharp piece of wood floating nearby. When my scrabbling hand finally closes round it after what feels like an eternity, I don’t hesitate. I bring my arm sharply back, then I strike the ring with the point of the wood plank. The merboy (I realise that’s what it is) gasps as there is a loud BANG, and the ring creature sinks into the ocean, limp, lifeless.

As I duck under the water to check it is really dead, I realise that the merboy is thrashing about again, churning up the water so much I can’t see anything but bubbles.

“Stop that!” I shout, furious. “How do you expect me to help you if you don’t… keep… STILL!” Sighing, I grab another piece of wood and support him as he clings on to it, willing him to calm down.

“Seriously, you would think…” I trail off, taking in the messy mop of black hair and wide green eyes staring out from a tanned, well defined face.

Not bad looking, actually. At all.

His mouth is hanging slightly open, transfixed.

Heat floods my cheeks. He’s no different from the rest of them- Can’t see past my face. He doesn’t even know me.

“Well,” I say curtly. “Let’s see what’s wrong then.”

“I-I…” He stammers.

“Forget it,” I tell him, sinking back under the water, guided by the heavy sadness in my chest. But as

soon as my head is below the water, I see something that chills me to the bone… My eyes are glued to it for several heartbeats. It doesn’t seem real- it can’t be real! Shock, horror, and realisation hits me full force, sending me reeling away from him as a scream escapes from my open mouth.

“What is it?!” he cries, frantically paddling towards me. I gulp down air, desperately trying to calm down.

“What,” I begin, my voice quivering, “The HECK happened to your tail…”

I awake suddenly, bolt upright, close to tears. I keep dreaming about the same event; when Blain and I met.

It still seems unreal… the things I didn’t know, the things he told me1 Papa lied to me. He was in charge of sinking the ships, he MUST have known…

All my life, I’ve been killing innocent people, innocent HUMANS. So vulnerable, so weak…

I let the tears come, and pretty soon I’m practically howling, my shoulders are shaking uncontrollably,

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and I’m so loud I wake Blain, and he slips into the water to comfort me.

“They told me it was for the material,” I gasp, giving into his cuddle and leaning into him. “What have I done Blain… I’m a monster!”

“No you’re not!” he exclaims, smoothing my hair back and attempting to mop up my face.

“You’re an angel.”

“What’s an angel?” I gulp.

“The most beautiful creature in the universe,” he replies. I freeze, tense. “But not just on the outside,” he ruses on. “In here,” he strokes my forehead, “and in here. ” He lifts my hand and places it on my chest, so I can feel my heartbeat.

I blush I fiery coral pink, and I turn my face away, extremely grateful for the darkness to hide me!

“We’ve come so far,” I whisper.

“I know,” he replies. “And all to bring me home

Identity 2: fiction// A short story by Jodie Grace-Smith, S3.

“1 paper, 2 paper, 3 paper, 4 - how many scraps of it lay on my floor?”

I leaned back in my brand new office chair to marvel at what was probably the most productive piece of work I’d done so far. Only four hours later and I had a simple 2 line rhyme to my name. What a literary genius! Exhaling my longest sigh to date (now that really was an achievement, considering the sheer amount of sighing I do) I meagrely tossed the page aside, adding to the ocean of crunched up ideas beneath my feet.

And on my desk.

And in the bin.

What was wrong with me?!

A life of admiration towards authors; what felt like an eternity of schooling in English and creative writing; a VERY expensive amount of stationary that could fill my hobbit-sized flat twice over; and still not one single idea for a novel.

How could I be an author, when I had nothing to write?

Think. Think Lauryn (I know you can do it!)

Think back to all those creative writing lessons you took during university; the drab and dreary time spent behind a desk; itching to write but instead having to listen to the teacher moan on about the importance of structure in your novel.

“The most important part is planning your ideas before you start to write!” is a phrase I’m sure I’ll never forget – the teacher definitely spent most of his time trying to etch in to my memory anyways.

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Well thanks Mr.Cordan, because that knowledge really helps me now, doesn’t it?!I looked down at my desk and neatly sorted my pencils in to some sort of arrangement; a small patch of order in an abyss of disorder. My desk always seemed to reflect how I felt…

At once I was tossing around stacks of paper and shoving old books aside. My array of luminous highlighters went back in the drawer, along with a ruler, a stapler, some sticky notes and a ballpoint pen – it didn’t have any ink left in it anyway.

After twenty minutes of determined cleaning, I could finally see the dark, mahogany wood that was my desk.

Perfect!

With no distractions and a clean state, I was free to write again.

However this attitude didn’t last half as long as I would have liked it to, and I was soon back to tearing my out. Is this what it really meant to be an author?

In interviews and articles my favourite authors always seemed so composed and just so… smart, as if their brains were constantly exploding with ideas and creativity. I remember when I was younger thinking, “That’s who I want to be, me, a writer.”

But perhaps I was wrong; maybe all that preparation for the day that I would actually sit down and write a novel was a waste; all because I’ve deluded myself in to thinking writing is part of who I am. What if I should be treating a patient right now, or dealing with money? I could be dancing, or cooking, or even going to space!

I picked up the lone, freshly sharpened pencil from my desk and examined it closely, as if there was something hiding from me in its wood grain.

Was writing really a part of my identity? And how could I tell?

The time had arrived to helplessly search for answers via what I think (and I’m sure many will agree) is man’s greatest creation – THE INTERNET! I knew I’d probably spend yet more countless hours wasting precious writing time but I convinced myself that by opening that browser I was unlocking the door to a world full of the greatest writing advice that anyone could give!

When in reality it was just the world of computer games, and having no self-control I naturally swayed towards this direction. It took me seven games to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

The next half hour was spent re-watching outdated videos about writing advice that in no way inspired me, which then through video suggestions led me to a short compilation of dancing animals. Despite how cute they all were, I closed the tab with the knowledge that I was wasting time ONCE AGAIN. I simply typed: “How to come up with ideas for a novel” into the search engine, and clicked on the first result I saw that had a range of tips about dealing with writer’s block.

Tip No.1: Clear your mind I tried my hardest, but there was just far too much doubt and stress and frustration bouncing around up there.

Tip No.2: Relax

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There wasn’t an inch of space in my flat that I could relax in.

Tip No.3: Go for a walk That seemed reasonable.

I reached over to the window and gingerly pulled back the curtain, bracing myself for the burst of pure sunlight that I hardly ever let in to my dusky flat. However, I was genuinely shocked to see the dark beauty of night stare back to me instead, the scattered stars twinkling as if in greeting.

Was it really so late?

A fleeting glance of the computer screen confirmed that it truly was time for bed. I decided to take a minute to scroll through the rest of the tips before shutting it off.

Tip No.11: Get lots of rest and gain inspiration from your dreams Now THAT seemed like a plan!

I was snuggled up in my bed so fast that even teleporting there would of taken longer – nothing got in the way of my shut-eye.

Sleep isn’t just for replenishing your energy; it has so much more purpose than that. Sleeping is the time to set that extraordinary mind alight, and like a match to gasoline I can strike up dreams of the craziest sort. And hopefully upon wakening I’ll remember a dream so crazy that it must be a bestseller.

Because tomorrow, I’ll be writer.

Identity 3: fiction// Here two S3 pupils have reflected on their own experiences to produce impressive and thoughtful works on the theme of identity.

“Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.” (José Saramago).

I now believe, that your identity is not something which can be changed (though it can be developed) and attempting to do so will leave you in a cloud of discontent.

The experience that lead me to this conclusion, occurred in primary school, when I thought I had to act differently for people to like me. Before I attempted to change, I was a relaxed and contented young boy, who did not look for attention or popularity. However, that was lost when I decided that – I didn't want to be the quiet one in the class – I wanted people to like me. Although, as I discovered, that is not what happened, I attracted some unwanted attention from a boy named John Smith, who seemed to be on some sort of quest to provoke me. John confused me, as he seemed to change (whether he liked me or not) throughout my primary school years, though when we hit primary six and seven he seemed to hate everything I said or did feeding on my every mistake – was this his fault or mine?

Unfortunately, I brought this feeling of confusion and discomfort home, which resulted in me losing sleep, because I seemed unable to put my brain on stand by. “All discomfort comes from suppressing your true identity.” (Bryant McGill). I spent endless hours, counting the bars and tracing the patterns of the top bunk, as if in some kind of cage. I often thought about why I couldn't sleep (to try to resolve the problem) but this lead me into another train of thought, lead to another and before I knew it, I was drowning in mixed up thoughts and feelings, but there was one thing that could take my mind off it,

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and that was reading. Escaping into a book was my only distraction.

At school, I felt lonely; at home, I felt lost. I had no idea where to go or what to do, to return to my happy and contented self.

Trying to be popular obviously wasn't my forte, as I started to fall out with existing friends instead of making new ones. In and out of class, I felt like anything and everything John said was to provoke me, I used to think up situations, and what I would say to get back at him. However, these never turned out quite like I’d planned, they just made things worse and left me feeling angry and frustrated. This feeling of anger was new to me and I hated it, almost as much as I thought I hated John.

This newly emerging identity wasn't looking good.

This irritable person wasn't me and the future would have been full of fights arguments and unhappiness. This is not what I had expected from life, I wanted to enjoy my sport; do well at school; have fun with friends and be relaxed within myself.

Perhaps all of the confusion was my conscience trying to stop me from straying from the path that would lead to my true identity.

The crisis point was reached when, one day, after months of John poking and laughing and winding me up tighter and tighter. I snapped… John had found my breaking point. Insults about my family, was a step too far! It wasn’t correct Karate technique, but it was a punch and it made contact.

I don’t know who was more shocked me, John, or the innocent bystanders, “ he wouldn’t do that would he?” That was the question on everyone’s lips including mine.

Strangely, the next day, people seemed to forget about what had happened and things started to go back to the way they used to be when I didn’t feel I had to act up to be popular. Suddenly, popularity wasn’t important to me anymore. All I wanted was to feel happy and contented, and over the next few weeks I felt lighter as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Maybe this was an experience that I had to go through to learn how to be happy with myself and to realise that my friends like me just the way I am.

Who knows, perhaps John was going through something similar? I am relieved to say that for the moment we get along absolutely fine.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (Dr. Seuss)

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“Fat… Are the chips ready?... Ew, look at you.”

I felt alone, afraid of him, as he was someone who looked like an eagle, armed with words as his talons, but when he struck me with those claws no blood was spilled. Just tears.

“Just a second, I promise… Won’t be long… Oh, shame.”

I felt alone, afraid of her, someone who looked so sweet and innocent but should be sent down for years. Not for murder, but for torture, slowly hurting me. Obliterating my trust.

“Be brave… Stand up for yourself… Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you.”

I felt alone, afraid of everything.

Since P.3 I’ve been bullied. Not physically, but I’m sure that would have felt like heaven compared to the constant gunfire of names and, trust me, they felt like bullets.

At the time it was treacherous. My parents, having already suffered to daughters being bullied, told me to stick up for myself. Names couldn’t hurt me, they said, but they did. They broke me, from the inside, but, being in P.3, it was punishable by death to answer back to your parents. Or so it seemed.

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However, it wasn’t the “fat” jokes or pointed fingers that bothered me back then, it was the “where are the chips?” and “cooker” comments that infuriated me. I couldn’t help my second name, or the fact that my cousins had an unfortunate one too. Never did I think that the jokes would hurt me more now.

No, not the “oven” jokes. The “fat” ones.

For two years these words were fired at me. I finally thought it was over. Even that was too good to be true.

I had been friends with her since P.4; I thought we were best friends. However, she didn’t. In P.5 she spread my secrets, she isolated me from my friends and left me to, slowly, indict myself. She was always courteous towards the teachers so they so no sign of bullying. But he saw. With his bright eyes and dark skin, he saw the grim, destructive side of her. When I was in P.6 he was in P.4. He had dimples that never evaded his face for more than a few seconds. He acted as my guardian angel and he looked the part too.

Countless lunchtimes he sat and conversed with me while ‘Little Miss Innocent’ disregarded her promises.

I finally thought it was over.

Even that was too good to be true.

Three days after Christmas, my abysmal sister woke me up by shoving her phone in my face saying, “Do you know this boy? Do you?”

The words that followed destroyed me. The names may have been like bullets but this was a bomb that shattered me inside. That bomb was a fibreoptic Christmas tree. It may have shattered my heart, but it destroyed his family and sent my guardian home.

My one and only true friend had died.

My Mum didn’t allow me to go to the funeral, “You’re too young,” she said, my Dad wanted me go, so I could say goodbye, to have closure. Never the less, my Mum had said no, so I didn’t go.

Although, the school did hold a memorial service.

The minute they held up his picture, with his angel eyes and permanently indented dimples, I cried. I cried during the service and afterwards. Whenever I pass the blackened, broken, burnt [cont//]

house the memories come flooding back. He had courage. He was kind to me when no one else was. He was strong for me then he had no reason to. So why did he sit with me for months on end if I wasn’t going to stand up for myself?

4 words. 4 words were all it took to end the devastating lunchtimes. All it took to destroy one ‘friendship’ and create another. I had planned to say 400 words, but when they stood in front of me, all I could think was ‘I’m done fighting.’ 4 words was all it took me to finish was my angel had been secretly telling me to do the whole time.

“It’s me, or her.”

My so-called friends, obviously, chose her. I should have been upset; I’d just lost the only friends I had left. But I knew that the friendship, that had been lost a long time ago.

Our small P.6 class consisted of two girl groups and two boy groups. So when hunting for friends your choice is limited. As I walked up to the ‘Popular Posse’ I was bracing myself to get rejected, but a girl with welcoming blue eyes and a

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smile that filled half her face, greeted me into the group.

I finally thought it was over.

Finally, it was.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

It’s cliché but, in my case, true. Being victimized in Primary has made me the person I am today. I stick up for myself and my friends; I try to make sure they don’t feel the way I did when I was in that situation. Often it will get me in to a squabble that I didn’t voluntarily want to be in, but never the less the victim and I are together, and he/she, hopefully, won’t feel alone.

Being cautious of my size has always been an issue. However it wasn’t until P.7 that I realised how bad it was. Yes, I am more confident in the sense of my personality, but when going to a party, or out for dinner, or to the- god forbidden- beach, I’m not. I try my best to act like I don’t care, and, being an optimist, it will work someday. Meanwhile, I think I’m making my best friend proud.

amelie’s french spelling bee// As we reported in one of our weekly newsletters Amelie Davidson, S1, entered the national French spelling bee, hosted by the Scottish Parliament and came a very impressive second. Read on to find out her perspective on an extraordinary experience.

Salut! Je m’appelle Amelie Davidson.

All pupils in Miss Blacklock’s 1M2 French class were lucky enough to complete against one another in a National French Word Wizard Competition. There were several rounds and we each had one minute to correctly translate, pronounce and spell as many words and possible in French using the French alphabet.

Only one person could compete in the Finals held in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and I was lucky enough to progress through the rounds.

On 30th May, Miss Blacklock and I took the train very early in the morning to Edinburgh and made our way to the Parliament. It was a lovely day and we took lots of photographs but we quickly had to stop as we passed through the strict security and got registered. We were given security passes and treated to a very informative tour of the building. It was stunning inside and we even got to see the Debating Chamber and the Canongate Wall with lots of inspirational quotes written on it.

Maureen Watt, MP for Aberdeen and a keen linguist, gave us all a warm welcome and

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introduced us to the competition. Then the rules were clearly set out. By this point, I was starting to feel extremely nervous. I hoped I wouldn’t be called up first or last. The competition began “First up, Amelie Davidson” the caller said. It was nerveracking having all those faces watching eagerly but my turn was over in the blink of an eye. I just kept my fingers crossed that I had done enough to get through to the finals.

After lunch, everyone waited anxiously to hear who was through to the finals. “Amelie Davidson!” I was shocked to hear my name read out! Again, I was first to go up. I spelt everything correctly, I had no passes and I felt that it had gone well. We had to wait a while for the results while the judges conferred. I won 2nd place, winning a lovely glass trophy and a certificate. As well as learning 225 new French words and invaluable skills for learning.

I would like to thank all the teachers who supported me. Especially Miss Blacklock who gave up her time to practice with me, for all her encouragement and for giving me a fantastic opportunity. It was a great experience and I hope to compete at French Intermediate Level next year!

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food, glorious food// A quick round-up of all the recent foodie goings-on in school courtesy of Home Economics teacher Miss Northcote. On the facing page you can view scrumptious pictures of the baking from the competition.

As part of the primary school transition days Miss Northcote began Food Revolution Day (May 16th) by making fruit salads with Primary 7s. Food Revolution Day, inspired by Jamie Oliver, is all about making healthy and wholesome food with our youngsters. Trying to inspire them to make good food choices and be responsible for themselves and those around them. This was a successful event that allowed our present pupils of St. Joseph’s Academy to sell fruit salads in the canteen with the inclusion of providing healthy recipes to those who wanted to try them at home.

All money raised from this event went to Mrs Kirkwood who has now shaved her hair to raise money for Ayrshire Cancer Support. .................................................................................

The Great St. Joseph’s Bake-Off

The smell of warm, sweet cupcakes was in the air and the sound of laughter clattering around the kitchens sounded out an amazing day. Sponsored

by Joe Queen from Braehead Foods who very kindly provided the ingredients the event certainly created some serious competition on the day.

Also taking part in the judging panel was former pupil, Marc Cope.

It is therefore with great pleasure that we can announce that the Junior and Senior champions were Olivia Iles (S2) and Zoe Graham (S6) with Niamh Murray (S2) and Erin Cameron (S4) as runners up.

Congratulations to the winners of the Great St. Joseph’s Bake-Off and a huge well done to all those who participated in this event. It was a great day to be inspired and to take part as a positive and wholesome community.

The Results

The PE and Health and Wellbeing Faculty ran a very successful bake-off last week that not only brought S1-S6 together, but also allowed staff around the school to be involved in the competition.

Miss Blacklock, Mrs Kirkwood and all pupils who took part were required to create a cupcake that was unique and stylish in order to determine who would be Junior and Senior Champion of the Home Economics Department 2014.

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Junior champion: Olivia Iles (won Cineworld voucher) Junior runner up: Niamh Murray (won a baking set) Senior champion: Zoe Graham (won Cineworld voucher) Senior runner up: Erin Cameron (won “The British Bake Off” book – Mary Berry) Adjudicators: Joe Queen (Braehead Foods, Kilmarnock) and Marc Cope (former pupil of St.Joseph’s)

cumbrae cycle trip//

S2 pupils Paton Greig and Lee Hollywood write about their class on a day out cycling around the Isle of Cumbrae.

The trip to Cumbrae for the new S2 was an extremely funny, happy and exciting thing to do.

Most people enjoyed the cycling and others tried their best. Some of the S2 pupils had never been to Millport before the trip and some people would like to go back to Millport and 2 or 3 pupils are undecided.

The weather was kind of alright: at least it was not raining. Some of the pupils were grateful that we stopped at a cafĂŠ because it was tiring for some;

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others just wanted to keep on cycling. The journey to the ferry was fun because some people had not been on a ferry before the trip.

The ferry was very big on the way to Millport, but the ferry on the way home was a lot smaller.

Whatever the size everyone enjoyed the ferry. On the ferry we got sweets from the teacher (Mrs Wilson). There were 5 adults present; they all seemed to enjoy themselves too.

Altogether we all had a super day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Millport.

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n4 Literacy achieved// Having only just entered S4 we are delighted to announce that some pupils have already secured an N4 Literacy qualification. This work forms part of the school’s Enterprise Academy initiative in Senior Phase.

The N4 Literacy work was based on the SQA ‘Healthy Lives’ topic. Pupils had to form a company, build a brand identity and then plan an event. The focus was on their collaborative skills (group discussion was assessed during this process) and they had to identify target market, location and events to be included. They then had to decide on marketing strategy and startup costs. The final part was to produce an informative leaflet about an area of health of their choice. Target audience again was key.

These photos show various stages of the process. Reading and Listening assessments (thematically based) were also passed to achieve overall qualification.

The pupils who passed are: Siobhan Kelly Taylor McCann Lee Duncan Alan Hutchison Sophie Gallagher Derian O’Neill Natchaya Boonsong Kieran Connelly Tiffiny Candlish Steven Hamilton Hope Plenderleith Dylan Stakim

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baton-bearers// Two of our pupils, Scott Dipiazza and Dannielle McCloskey, were privileged to be chosen as bearers of the Queen’s Baton for the Commonwealth Relay as it passed through East Ayrshire.

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Last year, I was selected by the PE department, in recognition of my hard-work, athletic and volunteering capacity, to have the honour of being a 2014 Commonwealth Queen’s Baton Bearer. On Saturday 21st June, I had the pleasure of carrying the baton at the local Athletics Arena in Kilmarnock.

Before the run, I was very nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. But once I accepted the baton in my hand, I felt a huge sense of pride. I can’t even begin to comprehend how far this baton has travelled and the number of people that have been a part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games.

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My family, friends, Dr Denheen and Miss Blacklock were there to support me and calm my nerves though and of course to share this incredible experience. They helped to make the experience very memorable and the crowd’s encouragement was overwhelming. I have never felt anything quite like it. I am extremely grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I shall never forget it.

Thank you.

Scott Dipiazza

on the field// PE teacher Mr. Howson writes about the teams, trophies, trials and tremendous achievements of young people in sport and in the PE and Health and Wellbeing faculty.

This has been an incredible year in St Joseph’s Academy. We have experienced triumphs in football, boxing, athletics, badminton and karate.

We are very privileged to have such talented and hardworking pupil’s and we are eager to see what success is on its way for session 2014/2015.

Football In a classic underdog’s tale, St Joseph’s Academy under 16’s aimed at defying the odds with an exuberant performance in the East Ayrshire League Cup Final versus Kilwinning Academy, on Wednesday 14th May. Our squad were playing in what was their second cup final in as many weeks, against a team who cruised to a 5-1 victory against St Joseph’s only the week before. The team, ever hardworking, entered Dam Park hopeful of an upset and after a bright start where the team matched Kilwining Academy man for man, the deadlock was broken.

Unfortunately, it was Kilwinning who took the lead after a deflected shot crept under goalkeeper Ciaran McDaid.

Pressure continued to mount and Kilwinning delivered an onslaught of shots at St Joseph’s goal with our defence doing their best to withstand the attacks, however, midway through the first half Kilwinning doubled the lead as well as tightening their grip on the match. Shortly after, Kilwinning made it 3-0.

Half-time came and went and after 5 minutes St Joseph’s looked to be a side in need of a miracle as Kilwinning Academy added a 4th to their tally.

However, the team demonstrated just why they are pleasure to coach as they gave everything to reduce the score line. St Joseph’s increased their possession and with 18 minutes to play some tidy

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work in central midfield from Ross Thomson saw the ball go wide right to the versatile Jordan Doolan. Jordan then delivered an inch perfect pass to goal machine Conner McMillan who composed himself, finding space in a crowded 18 yard box before hitting the roof of the net to make the result 4-1.

What may have seemed to merely a consolation goal to Kilwinning and the supporters acted as the catalyst to a truly remarkable comeback for St Joseph’s Academy. With 10 minutes to play, Jordan Doolan was again involved when a cross from the left entered Kilwinning’s box, it was not dealt with well by a team who had proven such stern opposition and this allowed Doolan to take advantage of rash defending to slide the ball home from 4 yards.

Belief was in every St Joseph’s player and supporter, then with 4 minutes to play and a two goal deficit to rectify, St Joseph’s brought on the true definition of a super sub in the form of Aiden Shearer. Aiden’s tireless runs and hopeful challenges inspired the whole squad and rightly so, as a corner from the left was met by the diving header of Aiden Shearer in a crowded area, leaving Kilwinning’s goal keeper stranded in disbelief. 4-3 the result stood with 2 minutes of time to play.

Calls of ‘keep the ball’ echoed from Kilwinning’s dug out whilst St Joseph’s dug out roared the team forward for more and with the last kick of the 90 minutes the ball dropped to decisive left foot of Kieran Kelly. Kieran, 20 yards from goal, struck the ball with the inside of his left foot and all around him could merely watch as the net of Kilwinning’s goal bulged and the roof of Dam Park lifted from the cheers of St Joseph’s on looking supporters.

A result that could never of been predicted had resulted in the inspired Under 16 squad finishing the 90 minutes with arguably the most incredible

comeback in the school’s football history as 4 goals in less than 15 minutes brought the boy’s to the brink of cup success. Baffled looks from the opposition’s dug-out let St Joseph’s know the game was there for the taking when a 20 minute extra time was called by the referee.

A relentless St Joseph’s allowed Kilwinning no reprieve as the team maintained possession and headed for the opposition goal. At 4-4, the match was nervy and hanging in the balance before this season’s top goal scorer Conner McMillan found the bottom corner of Kilwinning’s net, bringing the result to 5-4 to St Joseph’s Academy. The team, overjoyed, continued to work hard to maintain their lead.

A disciplined approach from defenders Luke Shearer, Conor Shearer and Ryan Beveridge as well as untiring work from midfield maestros Sean Sweeney and Ross Thomson kept Kilwinning Academy at bay and maintained the 5-4 lead until the last minute of extra time.

As the game was about to come to a finish, the icing on the cake came from Aiden Shearer, again, who settled the nerves. A seemingly endless run prompted a tired tackle from Kilwinning on Aiden inside the 18 yard box, the penalty was awarded.

Conor Shearer stepped up, knowing that a goal from the spot would finish the tie. Surely enough, the strong defender buried the ball from 12 yards to make the final result 6-4.

When the 16’s stepped on to the pitch every single player stepped up to the challenge. Their attitude, support of one another, style of play and endeavour to succeed was ever present from the outset.

Despite losing 4 goals, St Joseph’s Under 16’s demonstrated what sets them apart from other schools and turned the game on its head. The plaudits and congratulations at the end of the match could not have been more deserved for a team who gave everything to win.

Both Under 18 and 16 teams have been a credit to the school this year, winning a trophy each.

Next season sees our current under 16’s joining our under 18’s and surely a Scottish Cup run will be on the cards… watch this space!

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District Football The PE department would like to recognise the success of some of our Under 15 footballers. It is that time of year when District football coaches begin the trials of the best footballers from each school, with the end aim of fielding a team to compete against other district squads from across Scotland. Six players from our current cohort were recommended for the first stage of trials encompassing school of East Ayrshire at Greenwood Academy on Friday 13th June (James Johnston, Lewis McCabe, Daniel Wilson, Kieran Orr, Bailey McClung and Kieran Connelly).

Following a difficult trial match Daniel Wilson (S3), Kieran Orr (S3) and Bailey McClung (S4) impressed the coaches enough to earn a second trial. This would allow the boys to challenge successful trialists from other schools from across all of Ayrshire. The players performed exceptionally well and deserve huge credit for making it to the second round of trials.

In a tougher second trial both Daniel Wilson and Kieran Orr were selected and now compete in the final trial for Ayrshire’s Under 15 squad on Wednesday 25th of June at Prestwick Academy.

The two boys’ are hugely talented footballers and will be key players in next year’s St Joseph’s under 15’s team. To make it to the final trial is a massive accomplishment, one that is very well deserved and all at St Joseph’s a rooting for the boys on Wednesday.

Athletics & Sports Day As our Easter break came to a close the PE department kicks off the ever popular Athletics block. The Athletics unit allows each learner in S1S3 to experience events such as the High Jump, Javelin, 100 metre sprint, team relay and many more. This year has seen records being broken, individual talents recognised and revealed as well as pupils’ knowledge of athletics increasing.

Athletics got underway this term with the arrival of a new leader board that displayed the top 5 pupil scores from each class for each event. This popular board formed the basis of St Joseph’s Academy annual Sports Day. The top athletes, deemed by the results, were selected to compete

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This year has seen records being broken, individual talents recognised and revealed as well as pupils’ knowledge of athletics increasing

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an electric atmosphere was felt by every St Joseph’s pupil...Nerves were evident, competition was tense

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in Sports Day. The event took place on June 4th and was a huge success. Each participant was placed in an age category to compete in the javelin, Shot Put, High, Long, Triple Jump and 400 metre race before the showcase 100 metre event. As the first round of activities drew to a close, rain put a slight dampener on the event as the final performances had to take place indoors.

Not to be deterred, an electric atmosphere was felt by what seemed like every St Joseph’s pupil as the participants embraced their final activity. Nerves were evident, competition was tense and the races got underway. A packed St Joseph’s Games Hall roared each and every participant on, making 2014 Sport’s Day a spectacle to remember.

Following the last run, the scores were counted and the winners were…

S1 Boys – Krystian Osiewicz S1 Girls – Hilda Mtwali S2 Boys – Michael Murray S2- Girls – Skye Lietch S3 Boys – Scott Dipiazza and Alun Edmiston (joint winners)

the Scottish School’s Championships on the 19th July.

This achievement came on the same day as Scott Dipiazza (S4) and Danielle McCloskey (S6) were Commonwealth baton bearers for St Joseph’s Academy. The pair were selected to carry the prestigious baton around our local community with Scott finishing his route at Ayrshire’s Athletics Arena.

It was this Athletics Arena that played host to St Joseph’s Academy and many other athletes in Eats Ayrshire on the 28th May as we competed in the East Ayrshire Athletics Championships.

On what proved to be a triumphant day, we had numerous award winners who returned to school with a Bronze, Silver or Gold medal for their achievement. The champions are as follows: Boys Relay Team: Silver Kudzai Tapatapa Bailey McDerment Ollie Hughes Conan Mackin

S3 Girls – Hope Plenderleith The event showcased the top athletic talent that St Joseph’s has to offer. Each and every participant deserves enormous credit for their performances, first of all over the unit, to earn their place in sports day and also for the exceptional standard we saw on the day.

Commonwealth A much celebrated St Joseph’s pupil in Kuda Tapatapa (S6) has again earned well deserved plaudits. The 200 and 400 metre runner performed exceptionally well on Saturday 21st at the much changed Hampden Park.

With the Commonwealth Games just around the corner and the buzz well and truly under way Kuda Tapatapa was crowned Scottish Outdoor Champion in the 400 metre race with an impressive time of 50.86 seconds. Kuda now moves on to compete in

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Girls Relay Team: Bronze Lauren Halliday Hilda Mtwali Isla Nielsen Kiera McCluskey

James Johnston (800 metre) Michael Collins (Javelin – Silver) Kudzai Tapatapa (100 metre – Silver) Kuda Tapatapa (200 & 400 metre – Gold) Robert Murray (Shot Put)

p7 transition// Our Learning Community stretches across East Ayrshire.

We run transition events all-year-round for pupils joining us from P7. Here some of those pupils describe their experiences.

Transition day in the library and science department can be summed up in 2 words: pure awesomeness!

Graham Bain, St Andrew’s Primary School I felt nervous at first but soon started to feel welcome and happy and I made lots of new friends.

Sophie Bain, Mount Carmel Primary School Before the Sponsored read, I didn’t like reading books but now I love them. Thank you so much Mrs Kirkwood, you have changed my life!

Katie Morison, St Andrew’s Primary School In primary school we don’t bake a lot and so Home Economics is a change.

Studying this will help me when I am older when I get my own house and also if ever my parents don’t feel well I can cook for them.

Christy Gilmour, St Andrew’s Primary School All the people in my class were nice to talk to and so were my teachers.

Sean Paul O’Brien, Mount Carmel Primary School I loved all my classes, they were all fun... My experiences from the transition days were superb.

Courtney Kelly, Mount Carmel Primary School I am now feeling much more confident about moving up to secondary thanks to the many transition days I have had.

Fiona Livingstone, St Andrew’s Primary School

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By the second transition day I wasn’t nervous at all... My favourite subject was technical where I got to use a saw and a glue gun... When the bell rang to go home I was sad because I didn’t want to leave.

Abby Smallwood, Mount Carmel Primary School

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In Home Room we wrote about our hopes for the future.

Afterwards we talked about our hopes. The transition events have made me feel less nervous and I am looking forward to coming to St Joseph’s.

Jenna Heaney, St Andrew’s Primary School

After I’d been to a couple of my classes I didn’t feel so nervous... I was really happy to have Music because it’s my favourite subject... I felt sad when the transition days were over.

Aimee Clint, Mount Carmel Primary School

changing classrooms: getting outside// An innovative learning experience for all S2 and S3 pupils will lead to them achieving the John Muir Discovery Award and linking with our British Council partner school in Sri Lanka. Lead teacher Mrs. Fulton from the Social Subjects department explains the project. Pictures opposite.

Every one of our S2 and S3 pupils has begun a year-long outdoor learning programme led by Mrs. Fulton from the Social Subjects department that will also build even closer ties with our partner school in Sri Lanka.

The aim of the project is to learn about the campus local wildlife including plants, birds and animals.

We will also raise awareness of how we can conserve wild areas and encourage wildlife to these areas on campus. This is to be done alongside our partner school, Holy Trinity College in Pussellawa, Sri Lanka, so that all information and presentations can be exchanged thereby learning also about our partner school’s local wild environment.

We have chosen to use the John Muir Award framework in order to help to raise awareness of our environment while recognising the achievements of the pupils taking part. I It may surprise readers to learn that our wild place is on the school grounds at the back of the school.

This area was originally set up to be a pond and teaching area, but was never completed. As a result it is overgrown and is quite wild-looking. We believe that it is a special place as it would be possible to encourage more wild birds and animals to the area by introducing more plants that would entice insects and therefore more birds to the come.

It is a suitable place for our activity as it is on the school grounds and therefore close by and convenient to work on as well as safe for the pupils involved.

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The project will start with pupils researching the wildlife common to Scotland – pupils will complete a project on their chosen bird, plant and animal and present to each other.

We intend to undertake an investigation of the plants, insects and animals that are already present in the area by taking photographs at different times of the day and later identifying them through research. We would also be researching the types of plants that would attract other insects, birds and animals.

In addition we intend to work on clearing the area of any litter and any unwanted plants and then be planting the new shrubs/flowers that we had researched to attract more insects, birds and animals.

One of the benefits of this process is that we will provide places for feeding birds and hedgehogs as well as creating habitats for them.

We will be creating a blog to share our work with our partner school in Sri Lanka. We will also be presenting our work to other classes in the school via photo and project work displays as well as guiding people through our wild place. There will be a written report of what we are doing included in the school’s newsletter which will be distributed to the local community.

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movers and shakers//

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Since S1 I had heard about Y-Dance, but never experienced it until the end of S3. I knew it was about dancing and I would be off my timetable for the full day, but didn’t know what types of dances they would be doing. Near the end of the day the dance teachers offered us to go to a dance camp in the summer and if we wanted to go we had to fill out an application form telling them why we wanted to take part and why we should get picked to do it, as there is only a few spaces and it has only been offered to the Secondary Schools in Ayrshire. I would love to do it again as I love dancing. If people that I knew got given the choice to do this I would recommend they should as it really doesn’t matter if you’re the best or not as long as you have fun. I hope I get chosen for the dance camp as I feel like it would benefit me for my future in dance as I want to get into Dance College and become a professional dancer or dance teacher. (Hope Plenderleith)

S4 pupil Hope Plenderleith writes about working with Y-Dance

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redblack theatre company// redblack theatre company, first established in 1997 was revived this session with a knockout, knockabout pantomime performed for one night only at Christmas. The company is led by former pupil and performer Yvonne Kavanagh.

Since January redblack productions has been back up and running bringing back drama into the heart of the school and getting the pupils’ imaginations running.

We have worked on many skills through workshop games, improvisation, theatre make-up and special fx, lighting, sound, radio plays and much more.

Unfortunately we had to postpone our summer production of Romeo and Juliet, due to the illness of one of our main cast members. However we hope to have production back on track after the summer holidays.

We have all sorts of exciting ideas in the pipeline for next year, including doing a workshop with the P4s in St Andrew’s and a Halloween ghost walk at the end of October.

We would like to encourage pupils both old and new to come along in the new term and join in the fun.

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Pupils’ thoughts on drama club “I like having the control (tech light and sound) to be able to effect the stage from a distance, by just moving a few switches I can change a whole room.

I liked having Matthew teach me, I’ve tried to learn before but it never stuck, having him show me how to do all the tech stuff really helped” Rylan Jenkins “I’m here for the banter! I really want to be an actor when I’m older, so coming to drama group seemed like a good idea. I like that we have the chance to go to the primary school and organise workshops for the wee kids” Connor McNamara “I want to go out and try different things. So I’ve come along to the drama group and the cookery/ baking class, they’ve been really good.”

Ainsley Rorison

void2014 music festival// June 18th saw VOID2014 a pupil-led music festival created by three S4 Enterprise students: Kyle Chatham, Abbie Garland and Louise Hanlon.

Photos by S4 pupil Lewis Mackenzie

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We spent a total of 5 months organising and planning ahead for Void 2014. We organised two open mic nights for after school and used them as the sort of audition stages so we could pick what acts we wanted to play at our end-of-year music extravaganza, VOID. The day of the event was stressful; constantly roaming around the school making sure things were going to plan and giving information to the appropriate people.

However I was happy that I went through with it. I gave myself and others the opportunity to play live and perform in front of the rest of the school. I gave people the chance to get out of class to see friends perform. I let the performers play what they want and have a good time, along with the privilege of playing live, an opportunity that doesn’t arise often enough. (Kyle Chatham)

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june news round-up// What’s been going on in the last few weeks of term? Well - some of this stuff.

S4 Tapas trip

Pupils play Prestwick Festival

On Tuesday 24th June, a group of 20 S4, 5 and 6 pupils went to have some delicious tapas at La Tasca in Glasgow. They were able to try some authentic Spanish tapas, including tortilla española (Spanish omelette), albóndigas (meatballs) and patatas bravas (fried potatoes with a tomato sauce). The food went down a storm and all plates were cleared by the end of the meal. Our pupils were able to practice their Spanish, asking for some dishes and for the bill – though some more than others!

Having been invited to perform at Glenburn Primary School Fete Mrs. Duncan’s new S4 class took the reins and organised a fantastic set of songs while Matthew Craigen worked out the technical side of it all. They rehearsed their socks off and by the Friday were raring to perform.

After the main course the pupils were able to try some Spanish churros (long sugar doughnuts) served with chocolate sauce. These are normally eaten early New Year’s morning after all of the celebrations – definitely the best thing to round off a trip to the tapas restaurant!

All in all it was a fantastic experience. ¡Viva España!

Then they all headed down to Prestwick and took centre stage in the hall performing for two whole hours – and still had material to keep going.

Mrs. Duncan says: ‘I was beyond proud of what they achieved that night and I know that the school and the staff were very grateful to them for stepping in at the last minute. I am sure that from this experience there will be a bright future for all the pupils involved.’ Ruaraidh Heron commented that ‘it was a joyful experience one which I will remember fondly” and Ryan McNamara observed, ‘I love playing guitar and this was a chance to express my talent.’

The Race for Life runners present a cheque for £3360 to Cancer Research UK

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Above and below right: The Mountain Bike Team take on Kyle Academy; left, the S4 pupils tuck into tapas in Glasgow

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june news round-up//

Above left: S1 pupils visit the Dean Castle. Above right: S1 pupils Chelsea and Kerry show off their working volcano models in LS360.

Below: the panel for the Senior Phase Independence Referendum debate. Inset: three St. Joseph’s pupils were prize-winners in the inaugural Robert Colquhoun Art Competition: Skye Leitch, Olivia Iles and Isla Grant.

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Clockwise from top right: S5 and S6 pupils in the midnight selfie at the Prom; S1 pupil Mark Taylor shows off his hexagonal prism constructed in Maths as part of a piece of work on the World Cup; our wonderful librarian has her head shaved by S1 pupil Kieran Preston who bid ÂŁ5 for the pleasure; after the haircut she is pictured with her Mum, Gail Anderson, husband Billy Kirkwood and baby son Loki. Heather has raised over ÂŁ1300 so far for Ayrshire Cancer Support where her Mum works.

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JUNE A M ON T H O F

CELEBRATING ACHIEV EMENT 058

S3 Diploma & S1/2 Awards// Another amazing series of achievements and celebrations.

We held our second annual Diploma of Achievement ceremony for S3 on June 17th.

It was a very special evening celebrating the way in which our young people have grown and developed over the three years of the Broad General Education.

Every single pupil in S3 received a beautiful Diploma of Achievement certificate printed on high quality heavy paper and summarising their achievements as well as detailing their ambitions and the esteem with which they are regarded by peers and staff alike.

As a result we have developed a system for recording and recognising wider achievement that places the highest value on the way in which young people live out our school values, develop their characters and show confidence and resilience.

One of the most powerful aspects of the evening is the way in which the young people take centre stage by giving speeches (into which the staff have no input) on the way in which the school has helped them to grow and develop. Each speech is themed around the school’s values and extracts are printed here.

Our Diploma ceremony is unique and is rooted in the defining characteristic of our school: its Catholic Gospel Values.

The S1 and S2 Awards ceremonies took place during the school day on June, with an outstanding level of attendance from parents and carers. Over 250 awards were given out at these ceremonies to recognise both achievement across the curriculum and the development of young people’s values.

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All of the ceremonies saw pupils leading the event.

The speeches from S1 and S2 pupils are printed on the following pages. At every ceremony we were entertained by the choir and a small group of singers.

S3 Speeches// Printed here is the text of each pupil’s S3 Diploma of Achievement speech. The four speeches were each based on our values statements which in turn reflect the national four capacities on which the Diplomas are based.

I love talking, but I love speeches even more

During my time at St. Joseph’s one of the biggest

because I get to talk and everyone else has to listen.

I love speeches for another reason though: the ability to express and convey my thoughts and opinions, which makes a difference. It’s important that we make a difference whether it’s in school or out, as we must actually do something, use skills or talents and have an end result that we can say we’re proud of. I didn’t have to make a speech at the Awards Ceremony, but I chose to make a difference by telling you exactly what this secondary school embodies. It’s not the building or the resources available to that building. It’s the people, staff and pupils who spend their days working together. Our values don’t just apply to pupils, the teachers are the true patrons of our statements; they have to think of others in every aspect of their classes and lessons as they adapt to the needs of particular children.

lessons I have learned is to always be open to any and all kinds of inspiration. Sometimes it can have the biggest effect on an art project, an English essay or even an IDL project. Being open to inspiration is the one value that I have slowly begun to live my life by. The inspiration you gain can sometimes be the bare minimum, but sometimes that can spark an idea that becomes a great one. Honestly if I could recommend that you only pick one school value to carry with you throughout your life I would choose this one. This value has even helped me through some family troubles. Taking the inspiration from how my family and friends helped me help other people as well now. Being open to inspiration is fun most of the time. It is very interesting as well.

“It helps to keep an open mind. You never know what will happen, so just keep looking for opportunities and ideas. Something good always comes out in the end.”

- Holly Ferguson We, as human beings, copy each other and look to see how to act from our surroundings, we learn from all those around us more than the textbooks that we read. When the teachers embody the ethos of ‘Think of Others’ we naturally try to carry that message on throughout the days, months and years. That’s what makes our values so important and, in some ways, inherent to a healthy outlook on life: there not just words that we say we fulfil they are the things that make us better people and able to make a good difference.

In the world we have opportunities to make a difference in even the most day-to-day scenarios. We also have the opportunities to make a bad difference or a good difference but as long as we keep making a difference then we have the chance to make a good difference.

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Ruaraidh Heron

You never know what you might spark an idea from.

You might see a statue of a king and spark the idea for a book. You might see a horse in a field and imagine some sort of painting. You could see a bird in the sky and begin to develop the future of air travel.

You never know. It helps to keep an open mind. You never know what will happen, so just keep looking for opportunities and ideas. Something good always comes out in the end.

Sometimes during class a teacher will assign a project that involves working in a group of two or more people. Sometimes you might, hate them. But sometimes you might love them from the bottom of your heart. The people you work with can often affect the atmosphere of the group and the outcome of the lesson since everybody has a different view and a different field of knowledge so it might lead to debates amongst the groups. It might end you and that person going in a huff and refusing to talk, but the work is always finished in the end. That’s the part that makes it great though. The different points and opinions. The different drawing and writing styles.

Everybody is different. This makes the class better.

Utilizing each other’s abilities and skills and creating an end product worthy of going on the wall for all the school to see. After all the argument and discussions and sometimes the laughs you often leave class that day with new knowledge, new ideas, new views and sometimes a new perspective. Everybody has their own opinion. All you need to do is listen and it might

affect yours for the better. So just be happy when you’re in a group. You never know how it might turn out in the end.

Holly Ferguson

Taking part is one of the scariest things someone can do; it makes you feel so vulnerable. You know there are so many places it can go wrong. You may be told you’re unwanted and feel rejected; you could end up not liking what you took part in. There are many variables and risks and as much as this all sounds like an incredibly horrible experience it’s actually an amazing thing. Many people these days don’t take take part and that is a real shame.

I mean, come on, we had a school disco cancelled because there weren’t enough tickets sold. Why didn’t anyone come? Because of the variables, because of the chance that it would be boring, but why do we need to think like that? Why must we choose not to do something out of the risk of failure.

There is an amazing quote by J. K. Rowling that reads, “it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default”.

Curiosity is both something great and something dangerous: curiosity killed the cat but it also led to people finding themselves though something they love, all because they were curious and tried something new. People are and always have been scared of the unknown, of the fear of it not working out, but the truth is it might not work out, but are you really willing to take that chance? Are you willing to give up on a chance to do something you enjoy?

am asking you to go out, be curious and even if it takes you 500,000 tries, find something you love.

Lauren Kerr

As pupils of St Joseph's, we’ve been encouraged to 'mark our mark' and 'aim high' in everything that we do. Whether it be in Dr Swan’s Biology class trying to beat the people at my table in tests, or in Mrs Greengrass’s class - who rocks, by the way gaining good marks in essays or group discussions. The school has helped me in a million ways, with the supportive environment, and the way that teachers push you to try your hardest.

Since coming at the end of first year, I feel I have benefited and gained a lot more confidence.

Instead of the new movie "A Million Ways to Die in the West", I think it should be called "A Million Ways to Succeed in St Joseph’s". There are a million and one opportunities out there to help me and everyone else "Aim High" and "Make my mark".

“I am asking you to go out, be curious and even if it takes you 500,000 tries, find something you love.”

- Lauren Kerr Recently, I was asked "What is your greatest achievement in school?" And "what do you enjoy about school”? I didn't know how to reply to that because school has helped me achieve so many great things and make memories - and in such a loving environment too, because as we know Mr Davis treats us as one of his own kids, although he might not always want to take us home cause we can be "the bad ass year group".

Curiosity is an amazing thing. It’s what makes us human, it defines us as a species, our ability to think and wonder and try things just because we want to know what happens. We all have something we love and if you don’t then why aren’t you looking high and low for that thing. Nobody is going to come up to you and say, “Hey I know the thing that will give you joy in life.”

My most memorable "making my mark" would have to be when I first ever sang in front of the whole school in the J-Factor in 2nd year. Didn't know how it would end, but it ended well because everyone including some teachers - told me that they were proud of me. It was an amazing feeling to know that I came second place with the help of my fantastic teachers and friends. And it also just goes to show when you put your mind to something, you can actually do it.

You need to go out and find it; as cheesy as it sounds it’s the truth. Take a class in finger painting, volunteer to help disadvantaged children, write a blog or shot a vlog. Do all these things. Did you find blogging boring? That’s fine! Keep trying new things. It took Thomas Edison 500 tries before he made a working light bulb. Now I’m not asking you to go out and invent a revolutionary product, but I

I can't boast enough about how happy I am to be a pupil of St Joseph's and after reflecting on my 3 years of being here, I am ready to move on to pastures new in fourth year, on a new journey that I hope will transform me into an even stronger person.

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Shania Wilson

S1 & 2 Speeches// Printed here is the text of each pupil’s speech from the S1 and S2 Celebration of Achievement events. The four speeches were each based on our values statements which in turn reflect the national four capacities on which the awards are based.

For me, the experience of moving from first year to second year felt like a big jump. And it was only when I reached second year that I really started to realise the importance of my education. St Joseph’s gives us the education we need but it is delivered to us in a different way from other schools. We are being guided to be curious and to develop our own ideas and to use those skills to make a difference in life.

We have many opportunities at St Joseph’s and every single one of them not only benefits us, but the people around us. For example, a great experience I had in second year was taking part in the Race For Life. This was an event where I, along with lots of other girls and staff from St Joseph’s, ran a 5k race to help raise money for Cancer Research UK. Together we managed to raise over £3000.

“We are being guided to be curious and to develop our own ideas and to use those skills to make a difference in life.”

- Carrie Morrison Another very positive experience was when a few other pupils and I had the chance to get involved in the Tom Hunter Challenge - an annual competition that assists young entrepreneurs to kick-start their business ideas. It was very rewarding and although we didn’t win on the night, we were fortunate to get to the final.

School can sometimes be stressful, not only for pupils but for teachers too. But from personal experience, no matter what your problem is you don’t need to think twice about asking for help.

Even if your problem is not related to school, it doesn’t matter because there will always be someone amongst the staff to help or even who will just listen.

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At the start of second year, I didn’t feel confident and was always telling myself “I can’t do it” or “this is too difficult”. I honestly felt like I wasn’t going to last 5 minutes. It all seemed so tough and I was overwhelmed by the gap from first year where, comparatively, it seemed we were just ‘playing’ at being high school pupils. But the people I’ve met at school have shown me in lots of different ways that it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like or what music you’re in to.

Neither the colour of your hair nor whether you wear designer labels or not is what’s important.

What is important is that when you put your heart into something and give it all you’ve got and you’ll be surprised by how much you can achieve. And if at first you don’t succeed, try again... until you are happy with the result.

“What is important is that when you put your heart into something and give it all you’ve got and you’ll be surprised by how much you can achieve”.

- Carrie Morrison Moving up from first year into second year has given me the confidence I need to be able to do well both in and beyond school. Now I tell myself every day: “you can do it” and “it’s not too difficult”.

It makes me happy that rather than immediately admit defeat when things initially seem hard, my experiences have taught me to stop and think about problems. And somehow, possible solutions begin to emerge.

Carrie Morrison, S2

Second year was busy, full of interesting and fascinating events and it passed by quickly. There have been so many learning opportunities (from European Day of Languages to Mental Health and Wellbeing week), lots of inspirational moments and countless competitions for me to take part in. [cont//]

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I participated in a writing competition in which I was the runner-up, and despite not winning first prize, this achievement boosted the belief I had in myself.

There are so many inspirational teachers at St Joseph’s Academy and they have helped me strive for my goals, they’ve shown faith in me, boosted my self-confidence and given me their time and support.

Although I would not say that I enjoy public speaking, I have taken up challenges to step out of my comfort zone and address my peers. I can only attribute this change to my experiences at the school where we are taught that it’s a good thing to leave our comfort zones once in a while.

I think the biggest thing I have taken away from S2 is to appreciate my classmates. I have learned that everyone thinks differently and has different ideas and that it’s important to listen and respect every individual because everyone has something to contribute, everyone has their own talent.

“I can only attribute this change to my experiences at the school where we are taught that it’s a good thing to leave our comfort zones once in a while.”

- Shahzeb Mirza I think my teamwork skills have improved the most throughout S2. I believe teamwork is supremely important why is why it is one of our school’s values. As Michael Jordan said: “talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

During S2 I have come to realise the importance of all the school’s values. These, along with our 10 skills have improved my confidence and academic ability and I’m sure they will continue to inspire me during the rest of my journey at St Joseph’s.

iPads are in class. We achieved this by making an advert to encourage people to visit Scotland during the Commonwealth Games. Our presentation was given to a number of headteachers from around the country who were contemplating using iPads in their schools.

In Homeroom recently we have been focussing on positive attitudes which I’ve found very helpful.

Also in homeroom we have organised a fruit stall selling fruit kebabs and yoghurt. All the money we raised from this venture was given to charity.

A little while ago I went to visit a primary school to talk about what we liked and disliked about numeracy. Also I and some of my friends took part in an art competition recently whereby we visited the Dick Institute and chose something to draw and sent away our final pieces of work. Skye Leitch was the eventual lucky winner.

In English, we took part in a play called ‘Face’ and we are hoping to perform this after the summer break. Our aim is to charge our audience for tickets and donate our takings to a charity which supports those with facial disfigurements. In Spanish we got to make and taste traditional Spanish food. I made patatas bravas with chorizo, which is a spicy tapas dish.

Finally, we got to go on our Paris trip which I don’t have enough words to describe! We visited Sacré Cœur, the Champs Élysées and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Our trip allowed us to talk to new people, taste new foods, try new things and practice our French. We had such a good week there and soaked up the sun. Paris was an experience I will never forget and I’d like to thank the teachers for making it happen. Hopefully, S3 will be as eventful!

Kiera Ovens, S2

Shahzeb Mirza, S2

At first I was quite scared

Over the course of S2, I have been fortunate to have had many opportunities to participate.

One of the events I’ve been involved in is the Apple Convention held in Edinburgh at the beginning of the year. A few of my fellow pupils and I used the newly introduced iPads to highlight how useful

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to come up to high school as it is a big jump from primary. Although we were all prepared for the move I was still really nervous. My main concern was getting lost, as the school seemed so big. [cont//]

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After 3 days of induction though, I had a good idea where all the classes were. The staff were very welcoming and I liked the fact that there are Support teachers for whenever you need them. It was a great idea to have a class to meet them on a Friday too.

“I’ve learned to make my mark and take part and the end result is that now I know how to save a life.”

- Katie O’Kane Where I was nervous before, I certainly couldn’t say that now as I have learned to “make my mark” here and “aim high” when undertaking the work given.

I am happy with the range of activities there are at the school for people, whatever their hobby is there is always something to “take part” in. I have enjoyed the various fund-raisers and events and I know I am welcome to join in - “working together makes great learning”.

Another aspect of school life I’ve enjoyed is the broader range of classes we have. In particular I have loved Science which wasn’t available as a distinct subject in primary school so I am keen to take full advantage of those classes at St Joseph’s and improve my skills in this area.

I also enjoyed Heart Start - a weekly class from which I learned amazing life skills. I am so pleased that this was an option to learn about: the end result for me is that I am now able to save a life.

I have made lots more friends since starting first year and this has contributed in a big way to my positive experiences of my time so far at St Joseph’s. So too have the teachers I’ve encountered. I was very appreciative of the recognition I received from them when I was recently given an award.

Now I can honestly say that after one year at St Joseph’s I feel ready for whatever second year throws at me!

Katie O’Kane, S1 “Everyday we are offered new things, we just need to open our eyes to these amazing opportunities and make sure we don’t let them pass us by.”

- Katie Cameron

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When I first came to St Joseph’s it felt like a big change after coming from a small primary school but, with help from my fellow pupils and the teachers, I settled in quickly. I have learned a lot over the year, not only about my school subjects, but also about other people and myself.

The school has offered us many opportunities to participate in lots of interesting and exciting activities that help us grow, not only as individuals, but as a community.

I have taken part in the Readers’ Cup Challenge and I’ve been to see The Lion King and The Jungle Book along with my classmates. I have sung in the choir at the Christmas concert and also played a role in our Christmas show, Cinderella, which allowed all those involved across the year groups to work together well.

“EThe school has offered us many opportunities to participate in interesting and exciting activities that help us to grow as individuals and as a community.”

- Katie Cameron Although I have only been at St Joseph’s for a year, I already feel as though I have been accepted into the school community by the inspirational teachers and other pupils.

Everyday we are offered new things, we just need to open our eyes to these amazing opportunities and make sure we don’t let them pass us by.

We are encouraged to ‘be open’ to the stimulus provided by teachers and fellow pupils and everything else around us. Because you never know where your ideas will take you.

We are also urged to ask searching questions, to ‘be curious’, for example about why the things around us happen.

A year at this school has instilled in us all the fact that we are never too young to “take part”.

Katie Cameron, S1

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Over the course of my first year at St Joseph’s I have learned a lot academically: new maths, new science and new languages. But I have learned a lot more than that too. I have learned that I should always aim high; to try my best at everything, even those subjects I might not like so much. Our teachers are always encouraging us to do this. Even when we’d rather not!

Sometimes it feels hard to keep going, but you should never give up. You never know where that hard work might take you. No matter what you’ve done in the past, you still have the chance to turn it all around for the better. A wise woman once said: “your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go - only where you start from.”

“We need all sorts of individuals to make up a community and St Joseph’s provides a community for all.”

- Olivia Iles In St Joseph’s every day brings a new start, new opportunities and new information which we should all embrace. Over the past year I have developed a new range of skills and opinions. These help me to be curious and embrace change. Some times we work in groups with people we did not know at the start of the year, but as Mitch Albom says: “strangers are just friends we are yet to know”. And as one of our 8 values states, ‘working together makes great learning’.

And it isn’t only information we should be curious about. We ought to be curious about ourselves too.

We are often urged to ‘be yourself’, but who is that?

To be yourself means not having to act to fit in. We should be able to think and talk freely about our opinions and feelings. As Oscar Wilde put it: “be yourself, everyone else is taken”.

At school, especially in RE classes, we have leaned to be more empathetic and caring towards others. We need all sorts of individuals to make up a community and St Joseph’s provides a community for all. Whether you are a singer, an artist, a reader or none of these things, the school environment is one where pupils and teachers look

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out for and support each other. ‘Think of others’ is a value that is lived out here every day.

We should enjoy our time at high school. We are often told that our teenage years are the best days of our lives. So we should all strive to work hard, have fun and make mistakes. You only live once.

But if we do it right, once is enough!

Olivia Iles, S1

Going into first year from primary 7 is a very big and hard step because you feel small, don’t know where you are, don’t know where to go and I don’t think there was one person who didn’t get lost at some stage.

But there are also many good things about moving into first year. Like getting more subjects, getting to show your talents and developing them with the help of the fabulous teachers.

“I learned to run faster, I’ve passed all my tests, I can jump higher, make up more imaginative stories.”

- Krystian Osiewicz I feel I have had the opportunity to show some of my hidden talents and have improved on my skills.

I learned to run faster, I’ve passed all my tests, I can jump higher, make up more imaginative stories and so on.

Finally, the thing I’ve enjoyed the most about St Joseph’s is that I’ve got to meet so many new friends. I had no idea that I’d become such close friends with so many people in my first year at school.

So, in other words, I feel strongly that this is by far the best school and you can’t argue with that!

Krystian Osiewicz, S1

“We are all better than we know, if only we can be brought to realise this, we may never again settle for anything less.�

- Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound

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jumping for Ecuador// Morgan McKenna went out to Ecuador in October with a group of pupils and staff.

Inspired by her experience, and keen to combat the poverty she encountered, she arranged to undertake a skydive to raise money for the Martin Chambers Ecuador Trust. Here is her experience up in the air. PIctures on facing page.

After a restless night with little sleep and thoughts of 'what if's', the day I had spent so long preparing for was at my doorstep quicker than I imagined.

Since coming home from my trip to Ecuador in October 2013 I had been determined that the work I had started over there was only the beginning of charitable work I wanted to do in the future. I knew how far the smallest amount of money went for the locals in Nueva Prosperina and that every last penny was appreciated.

Seeing first-hand the difference our money made to the very special and unforgettable people living there for the things that we take for granted really had me startled. It took me a while to come up with something that was a more out of the ordinary fundraiser to do for my age, but once I had fixed my sights on doing a skydive I knew instantly that this was the big thing I had been waiting for.

After a lot of discussion and encouragement from my parents, brothers and friends it was agreed that a skydive would be my own little contribution for my friends on the other side of the world.

I spoke with my uncle in Australia who had also done a skydive and whilst he cheered me on he discussed how he had felt too. I began making sponsor sheets and I spoke with Mr. Davis about my jump who helped promote it within the school. I was overwhelmed at the generosity of people who admired my courage for jumping from 10,000 feet, yet filled me with comments like "rather you than me" or "never in a million years".

Although enthusiastic about the idea of helping other people I did find the thought of jumping out of a plane rather daunting. I did an appeal in my local church and found parishioners equally as generous.

On the 19th of April I was woken at half 4 to pick up my friends and begin my journey to Paragon Skydiving Club, Perthshire. I could feel my nerves

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rising and I began to question what I had put myself in for. I had to endure a long wait then sign my forms, go through safety procedures and before I knew it I was putting on my suit and harness preparing to be taken down to the departure lounge as my tandem partner Mark called it.

I was introduced to Chik the man who would be videoing my dive and by this point I didn't have a particular emotion. I anxiously waited for the sound of the plane engine coming up the runway and then to be in the sky. An instructor who was doing a single dive from 3,000 feet opened the door of this small plane and within seconds my stomach churned with fear. I was reminded my jump wouldn't be long now and nerves crippled me. Strangely though, when it was time for me to get into position and for Chik to open the door all fear vanished and all I could think about was how blessed I had been to meet the wonderful people who helped shape me in Ecuador.

I took my leap of faith and the rush of wind on my face was exhilarating, I free-fell from 10,000ft at 135mph to 5,000ft before the parachute was opened and I could do my turns, spirals and tricks in the air. As I was gliding back down to reality, the view was incredible. It was undoubtedly the most pride I had ever felt, and for the first time I could say I was proud of myself and my achievement. For the rest of the day I had a buzz about myself.

When I received the DVDs of what I had accomplished it was hard to believe it was me jumping out of the plane, but it will always remain one of the best experiences I will ever have had.

In total I have now raised ÂŁ1, 693 excluding gift aid for Martin Chambers Ecuador Trust and I cannot express how grateful I am to everyone who supported or sponsored me. I would be even more grateful if, having read this article, people could spare a moment to have a look at this worthwhile charity.

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THIS IS SAINT JOSEPH’S.

Life is what you make it. take time.

All great achievements

Celebrate success - yours and other

people’s BE OPEN TO INSPIRATION love the things you learn.

love others unconditionally.

enjoy peace

and quiet, seek it out from time to time

THINK OF

OTHERS Accept yourself as you are. Everything you do is important. Presume the best in people MAKE A DIFFERENCE

If you want to feel good, do good. We

have diversity in common - embrace it. Everyone is welcome here

MAKE YOUR MARK Ability is nothing

without opportunity. Open your heart, mind and arms to new things. Seize opportunities.

You are

responsible for yourself BE CURIOUS Questions lead learning so ask good ones. No bird can soar on its wings alone. Remember that we can all change and grow INSPIRE AND TRANSFORM A good head and a good heart

are

always

a

formidable

combination.

Education is a conversation - so talk

AIM HIGH

change in attitude can save your life.

Enjoy what

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you

do

and

pass

on

your

passion

TAKE

Adventure is the very essence of life.

A

PART

Smile -

everyone looks better when they do.

WORKING TOGETHER MAKES GREAT LEARNING

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT

Y

Z

was invested as House Vice-Captain and, inspired by the example of Christ, St. Andrew and St. Joseph, promised before pupils, teachers, clergy and parents to live out our shared Gospel values, lead and serve others, demonstrate in all things our high standards and expectations and work for the greater good of the school and its community on this day the TWENTY-SEVENTH of SEPTEMBER in the year 2012.

Ben Davis Acting Headteacher

Claire McInally Depute Headteacher

U

FIDELIS

U

UU

INSPIRE AND

TRANSFORM

JUSTUS PRUDENS

Saint Joseph’s Academy Grassyards Rd Kilmarnock KA3 7SL

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01563 526144 www.saintjosephsacademy.co.uk @StJoAcad (Twitter) Acting Headteacher: Ben Davis ben.davis@east-ayrshire.gov.uk