Linlithgow Academy pupils: we need your views!

The Youth Commission on Alcohol is an innovative, youth-led approach to involving young people in democratic participation. The Commission has been asked to make recommendations to Scottish Government Ministers which help to change Scotland’s culture in relation to alcohol. Young Scot is currently supporting the Commissioners through a one year programme of investigation which will culminate in the presentation of supported recommendations to Ministers next March.

The Youth Commission has devised an online survey which aims to find out what other young people think about the issues around Scotland’s relationship with alcohol. We need as many young people as possible to complete it. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the survey and one lucky entrant will win a Nintendo Wii with Sports Pack. The information collected will be used to help the Commissioners shape their recommendations to the Scottish Government.

You can find the survey on our new online consultation site called Says Who? Here you can watch video, answer questions which pop up as the video rolls, comment on what you’ve seen or what others have said plus complete the survey.

Here is the link  http://www.youngscotsayswho.org/

Behind the Desk

“Symptoms”. Up until 2 weeks ago I probably never typed the word. I seem to remember it was one of the words near the end of that spelling book that had the red and grey squiggly lines on the cover that those of us of a certain age may remember. Well in the last 14 days I have had plenty of practice as I twice daily informed the Council, Lothian NHS and the Government of the number of absentees from the school who had “flu like symptoms” and “confirmed cases”.  It has been a very stressful time for all of us – pupils, parents and staff and I want to thank so many parents who, although clearly worried, quickly recognised the complexity of the situation the school faced. It was the time of year for celebrating our wonderful SQA exam results and the wonderful spectacle that was our Awards Ceremony but alas nature changed our focus!

David A MacKenzie

Pupil Successes

We have some list for the latest edition of LAA News!

Misha McCullagh, through the Dramaworks organisation has just completed her TV Presenter course. On 2 November she is visiting BBC Scotland for a tour of the headquarters.

Amy Blackley is away to Lanzarote for a week of intensive swimming training with her club.

Marnie Whitefield is away with the West Lothian Swimming Team for training in Mallorca.

Rebecca Scott won the Catherine Kerr Memorial Cup for the best overall speech at the ESU’s public speaking competition for the East of Scotland.

Andrew Murison, John Chapman and Bradley Niven have been selected for the West Lothian Under 18 football team.

Kate Holligan has been selected to represent Scotland in the European Karate Wado Championship in Edinburgh this year. She will compete as an individual as well as part of the team event.

For the last 3 years the Council have produced the West Lothian Writing Prize magazine. To have one entry is very notable given the competition is across the area. This year, Kyle Williamson, Katherine Sim, Sam Smith, Rory Paterson and Caroline Craig all featured this year.

Michael Adams, Paul Muir and Jordan Hamilton have been selected for the Under 15 West Lothian football team.

Fraser Dick and Kirsten Hall won the Senior and Junior Dux medals at this year’s Awards Ceremony.

Fraser Dick, Sam Heywood, Alan Coleman, Yusuke Onishi, Laura Douglas, Eleanor Wigham and Matthew Adams all qualified to have their names on the Outstanding Performance in SQA Examinations Board.

Ross Miller played in the solo piping competition at the world’s biggest Highland Games at Cowal this year.

Well done to last year’s GCSE Photography pupils who gained record results with 55% gaining at least an A Grade (in England there is an A* grade).

Adam Roy and Caroline Howie won smoothie making machines after winning a meal designing competition run by the Vegetarian Society of Great Britain.

Well we did say we have some list this issue and the fact that this is the longest ever post on Linlithgowacademy.org I think is testimony to the talents we have in this school – academic, sporting, cultural and musical – they are all there in their full glory.

Well done to everyone listed.

Home Economics Visits

Our S3 Standard Grade Home Economics pupils recently visited all our associated primary school as part of our healthy eating programme and British Food fortnight. They worked with P7 pupils and set them the task of designing a “healthy” meal.

The pupils with the winning entries came up to the Academy on Friday 9 October, with their parents/carers and under the supervison of our pupils, cooked the meal they had designed.

Both elements of this initiative (the visit and the cooking) were sponsored by Sainsbury and were a great success. Ms Rowland, PT Home Economcs, told LA News “I am delighted by the energy our pupils showed and with the enthusiasm of the P7s. I definitely spotted some budding chefs”. Mr MacKenzie added “It has been an undoubted success and it is best summed up by the email we received from Mr Simpson, Headteacher of Linlithgow Primary”.

Mr Simpson’s Thank You

Dear Ms Rowland,

“Thanks for letting us come in and join in the P7 “Masterchef” event on Friday. A brilliant idea and execution. There was a real sense of privilege and achievement in the children chosen to take part in the cooking activity. Their parents were obviously highly impressed at the reception given to their children and aware of the time and effort taken to plan and carry out such an exercise. The involvement of your senior students was also a great way of giving them responsibility and obvious enjoyment. Congratulations to you, your staff and the students involved and thanks for giving our pupils a really great opportunity and reward”.

Email Addresses

The management of the school has often been asked why we don’t send information out by email and has shied away from it for the reasons of inclusion. Put simply, not everyone has an email address. While another problem is families changing their email address and not telling the school.

However the school is looking at ways to overcome this and is going to start by sending out a letter inviting families to provide an email address. Obviously this will be voluntary but it will give us an idea of the percentage of email users we have amongst our families.  Mr MacKenzie told LA News “Whenever we send something out the school must satisfy itself that we have given it a fair chance of reaching every home. If a pupil does not take it out of their bag, we at least know we have given it to them. We cannot email everything if some families do not have the facility to receive it.  We will not duplicate effort by emailing and handing out and we will not identify non-users by only handing out hard copies to those who don’t have email. It is a very complex issue but let us see what response we get from the letters”.

Win an iPod Touch with Active Schools Pupils Survey*

Click on the link below to complete a quick survey for Active Schools. If you fill in your details at the bottom of the survey you will be entered into a draw with the chance of winning an iPod touch.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xnWdvrR4eOl2tlz_2bFwxboA_3d_3d

* Please note that the survey is for pupils in West Lothian schools and the link above is specific to pupils of Linlithgow Academy.

Can pupils of Linlithgow Academy please note that if they are accessing the survey within the school you must log onto the internet prior to clicking on the link above.