Rockinleck

The Easter concert came round again on the 1st of April 2009.  Lots of amazing acts took place including the first year elective done a mix of songs from the musical Joseph and the second year elective done a mix from the musical Grease.  The cast of  High School Musical performed a selection of music from their show which will be on the 15Th 16Th and 18Th of Junethis year.  Also the brass band and the clarinet group played some songs for us to make up the wonderful evening that took place.  Everyone enjoyed taking part and i am confident that the audience enjoyed it to.

Auchinleck Academy will be replacing it’s traditional guidance system with a new house system. Pupils voted on the names, and the Burns Associations were successful. The new names are Mossgeil, Afton, Lochlee and Ballochmyle. Each house has new guidance and heads, who will look after the pupils in that house. The change was made so that parents with more than one child at the school would not have to deal with more than one guidance teacher, making it easier for them to get acquainted with those who look after their children. The houses may also be used for sporting events within the school. Each house has it’s own colour; blue, green, yellow or red.

If you would like to check which house you or your friends are in, they are posted around the school. The system will launch on Monday 1st June, and we hope it will be very successful.

On the 27th, 28th and 29th of May, Primary and Secondary schools from all over East-Ayrshire, took part in the annual East Ayrshire Schools Showcase, including AuchinleckAcademy’s very own High School Musical dancers, who also performed at Go Dance 09. Students performed a variety of drama, dance and musical pieces, which went down a treat with the audience. Cumnock Academy performed a dance set too, featuring a mixture of modern and classical music, as well as a selection of song from Chicago.

The Auchinleck girls enjoyed their day, rehearsing in the afternoon and dancing in the evening. They got an excellent taste of what it’s like to perform on stage, and received an excellent round of applause. Well done to all who performed, DVDs are available to order.

Coming up is the big final for this yeares S2 soup competition. Over the past few months 2nd year pupils have been working hard to design and create a new soup. In each class the pupils were put into teams and given a booklet to help them prepare their soup. Once each team had come to a decision they made thier soup and other classes and teachers were asked in to taste their soup. There was a winning group from every class, who took part in the final on Wednesday 20th May. The winning team were Chelsea Mullen, Ian Smith, Heather Slaven and Scott Williams from class 2C2.Well done to all who took part!

In recent months, Parent’s evenings at Auchinleck Academy have taken a step away from the traditional layout, where parents met teachers in their classrooms. With the new system, teachers each have a desk in the Assembly Hall, and parents are given a five minute slot to discuss pupils with each teacher. The system has proved extremely successful at the S2 and S4 nights, and was used again on Tuesday 12th March, for the S3 evening. 

The system will be used at all foreseeable evenings, and will hopefully ease delay and prevent parents getting lost in the endless labyrinth of corridors!

We would like to congradulate Mr flannagan, Miss Byrne, Miss Ingram and Miss Smith who have all taken up new posts.  Mr Flannagan has taken up the position of  Guidance teacher which he will share with Miss Ingram.  Miss Byrne and Miss Ingram will share the post of S2 head of year.  Finally Miss Smith and Miss Byrne will be sharing the post of Principal teacher of English.  We wish them all the best of luck in thier new posts.

With the recent leave of Mr Robertson, we would all like to give a warm welcome to our new computing teacher, Mrs Draper.We wish her the best of luck in her new post.

Mr Robertson, S5 Year Head and Computing teacher, is waving goodbye to the corridors of Auchinleck Academy and taking up a new post at East Ayrshire Council for twenty-three months . We are sad to see him go, but we wish him the best of luck at his new  position.

On the 24th of Febuary, a group of s1 and S2 pupils visited Doon Academy, to see author, Catherine Forde. Pupils listnened to her talk about her books, and how they are inspired by real life events and people. She also advised aspiring young writers to tidy up, to clear the mind!

One S2 pupil said, “I really enjoyed it. It was really interesting and made me want to become an author! It was also helpful to get some tips on my own writing.” Catherine Forde then signed several books for her readers.

This year, East Ayrshire Libraries have organised another fantastic book festival. Children from all the local academies took part in a contest to design this year’s logo. The winner will be announced soon. Many authors will be visiting our school libraries, including Catherine Macphail, Catherine Forde and Katie Grant. Please give your name to your English teacher if you wish to attend any of these events.