Parent Council AGM

The Parent Council AGM will be held on Wednesday 8th September 2010 at 7pm in the Library at Linlithgow Academy.

Dates for your Diary

School Closes
Wednesday 30 June

SQA Examinations Results
Wednesday 4 August by email and text,
Thursday 5 August by post

School Opens for Teachers
Monday 16 August

Exam Queries or Subject Re-Coursing
Monday 16 August
(from 2pm)

School Starts for Pupils
Wednesday 18 August

School Awards Ceremony
Thursday 16 September

Pupil Support

The school has appointed 3 full-time non-teaching Pastoral Support Workers to work alongside our Principal Teachers of Pupil Support. This will ensure all pupils have a first point of contact when they wish to access personal support and advice at any point during the school day. This development also allows the Principal Teachers to focus more on their core business of monitoring and tracking pupil attainment and achievement.

Parents can now email Pupil Support Teachers and Workers directly by logging on to the school website where more information on this development can be found.

The new team is as follows:

Bell House

Pupil Support Teacher
Alison Rutherford/Grant Armstrong

Pastoral Support Worker
Sandra Stone

Kelvin House

Pupil Support Teacher
Stuart Forrester

Pastoral Support Worker
Susan Robertson

Watt House

Pupil Support Teacher
Elaine Kerridge

Pastoral Support Worker
Erica Mckay

Merit Certificates

A highly successful Merit Certificate awards evening was held on Wednesday 2 June. The revised scheme has proved so popular that the school had to hold two events on the same evening. The Guest of Honour, West Lothian’s Provost, Mr Tom Kerr, gave an entertaining speech highlighting some of his memories of attending the school, including teachers who gave the belt!

Mrs Kerr then presented the
Certificates of Excellence to the pupils who achieved the criteria set by consistently working to the best of their ability all session (a summary description) of what was required).

Mr MacKenzie told LA News “It was a special evening for so many pupils and their families. It would have been good if we could have celebrated with all the pupils together but on the other hand it was fantastic to see so many achieving the top award”.

He added “I have to apologise to the parents and pupils who attended the first “sitting”. Because this was the first time we faced this problem we did run through the first event too quickly. We have learnt our lesson and I hope people in the audience and the prize winners did not feel cheated by the quick pace of their moment in the limelight”.

School Meals Prices

From August the cost of a school meal rises by 5p to £1.75.

It is further proposed that school meals will increase from 1 April each year by the level of the Retail Price Index (inflation rate).

Tesco Vouchers

Many thanks to all the families who collected and handed in these vouchers.  In total 11,755 were donated and with the ones we didn’t use from last year we had a grand total of 19,093 to “cash in”.

That means we were able to acquire 1 Canon High End Power Shot digital camera, 1 camera tripod and carrying case and 2 x 2Gb SD memory cards. We have also been able to carry forward 6,423 vouchers to add to next year’s total.   LA News wishes to thank the staff in the office for collecting the vouchers and Chris Morrison in the library for collating the totals and organising the purchase of the equipment.

Behind the Desk

Many people who work outside education think this is a quiet time of year for secondary teachers because half the school is on study leave. This could not be further from the truth. The deputes and myself are working full tilt on next year’s aims and objectives including the timetable.  It is the first time I have experienced a school timetable being finished in Thailand! Teachers and Principal Teachers have Curriculum for Excellence to keep them focused as well as the “normal” (what is normal?) pressures of preparation for next year.
Tomorrow I am going to the Scottish Cup final to cheer on Ross County, my mother’s team. ‘Mon the Staggies. Imagine what Dingwall will be like if they win! (I guess they just had to drown their sorrows - Ed)

David A MacKenzie

Rugby Finals

A season of great success ended in disappointment for the Under 15 and Under 18 teams.

The Under 15s lost their final against a physically stronger Earlston High team 29-19.

The Under 18s who led for most of their final against Wellington School from Ayr had the agony of losing 26-24 with the west coasters scoring a few minutes from the end.

Both teams want to use LA News to thank all the supporters who turned up at the games and their coaches for the help all year.