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ABOYNE ACADEMYWinter Newsletter 2016

STEM IN THE PIPELINE 2016Team Success for Innovation

The presentation day for this annual event run byTechFest was on 13th December, and a team of sixS6 pupils going by the team name Elite Solutionsrepresented Aboyne Academy. STEM in thePipeline is a project lasting four months for seniorpupils to produce a field development plan for anoil field, write a report for the plan, and thenpresent this to industry professionals. All membersof the team have gained Silver CREST Awards fromthe British Science Association for this work, whichare nationally recognised awards. This year, theschool’s team of Ellie Bannister, Rory Bruce, RachelLow, Dougal Stonebridge, Matthew Watt, andLance Zhou, also returned home with the EnergyInstitute’s Award for Innovation in their project – atremendous result for the team who worked veryhard at recognising and utilising the wide variety ofskills in its members. The faculty is very grateful forsponsorship from Reach Exploration, one of theschool’s link companies, who generously fundedminibus transport for the pupils.

There is more news from the Maths Departmenton page 13

Shaving My Head

On Children in Need Day, Friday 18th November, I shaved my head to raise money forChildren in Need. I donated my hair to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that makes wigsout of real hair for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy. I chose todonate my hair to the Little Princess Trust because they really make a difference tochildren who have suffered from cancer by helping them to fit in more at school and withtheir friends and also build self-confidence and happiness. Although the money is stillbeing counted so far I think I have raised about £800, which is amazing and I would liketo say a big thank you to everybody who has sponsored me as the money is going to areally great cause and will make a huge difference to the children who need it.

Anna Benton, 5M1

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Children in Need 2016The 18th of November this year saw Aboyne Academy’s Children in Need fundraising extravaganza come to the mostamazing end with a diverse and talent-filled lunchtime show. Acts ranged from Pipers, to Highland Dancers with amodern twist, to Rachael rapping in Korean, to singers all topped-off with one of the best (and now infamous) S6dances.

The S6 as a year group had really outdone themselves with their Festival theme: we had ‘pop-up’ music stages in variousplaces around the school with the Rm 7 pupils particularly vocal about their enjoyment of the music stage outside theirteaching area while the canteen was transformed into Aboyne Academy’s own campsite. There was an absolutelyfabulous atmosphere throughout the whole school all day thanks largely to the S6 and the effort and hard work theyhad put in to what will be their last Children in Need at Aboyne Academy.

Aboyne Primary School was also lucky enough to receive a visit from Mrs Drewitt and her travelling minstrels andshowed their appreciation with a very generous donation to our shared total.

It was great to see so many home-made costumes that pupils had clearly spent a lot of time creating. The Staff theme of‘under the sea’ meant that there were an interesting mix of mermaids, fish, submarines, jellyfish and a whole host ofother underwater treasures to be seen in the corridors. Winner of Best Dressed Pupil was Nathaniel as Pocahontas;winner of Best Dressed Teacher was Mr Sargent as a mermaid in a costume created by what is now the Friday KnittingClub.

There were fewer sponsored events this year than in previous years but one very special one involved Anna who haspersonally raised an amazing amount – you can read about what she did elsewhere in this newsletter.Our total currently stands at over £3700 but all the sponsorship money has not yet been handed in so this is sure to rise.We hope to be able to send our donation off to Children in Need headquarters early in the new year.Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and an excellent 2017 – get planning your costumes for Cin’17 now!

Staff CiN Team

Dear Parent/Carer

I am sure you will be both surprised and delighted when you read about the huge range of opportunities that areavailable to our pupils and see evidence of the large number of Aboyne Academy pupils who actually take advantageof these opportunities to enhance their knowledge, improve their skills, make new friends or simply have fun.

Our first two terms have flown past and they have been both busy and successful with new events such as theCareers Fair and traditional crowd pleasers such as the Christmas Concert and Christmas fair. I would like to take thisopportunity to thank all who have helped us with these events, in particular the Parent Council, our hard workingstaff, pupil volunteers and ARCADION.

I hope that you enjoy catching up with all our news and would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a verymerry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Yours sincerelyLorraine Scott (Head Teacher)

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ABOYNE ACADEMY & ARCADIONSaturday 3rd December 2016

This weekend saw Aboyne Academy and ARCADION team up toassist in the delivery of our annual Christmas Fair.

Work began late on Friday afternoon with the arrival of theARCADION catering equipment from their Dyce office. This wasunloaded by ARCADION staff assisted by S6 helpers Ben Giffordand Calum Kitching and installed upstairs in the canteen area.

The following morning Chef Russell Mahoney and ARCADIONTechnical Director Clive Gregory worked with hospitality pupilsRuth Gibson, Jennifer Pirie and Emma Forsyth to prepare andserve lunch and snack refreshments for everyone attending the Christmas Fair. Highlights on the menu this yearwere soup, tasty chilli and pancakes with a variety of delicious toppings. The Fair was attended by over 350members of the public.

Ruth, Jennifer and Emma really enjoyed the challenges of the day and the chance to develop their skills workingwith a real industry chef and commercial equipment. The above picture shows Ruth, Russell, Jennifer and Emmahard at work on pancake preparation wearing their ARCADION/Aboyne Academy chef whites. A big thank you toall the ARCADION involved in transporting the equipment to us and helping on the day.

Tuesday 8th November 2016

ARCADION staff are familiar faces in Aboyne Academybut this week it was our turn to visit ARCADION’S newoffice in Dyce. Their new home since February 2016, ithouses their modern office, extensive warehouse andfantastic new showroom facilities.

A pupil group from S3 Graphics, accompanied by Mr Foyand Dr Holden, toured the new building led by JodieBarbour and Kyle McLaughlan with a focus on theirdesign process. Pupils received feedback on a currentjoint project with ARCADION where pupils are designingtheir own offshore accommodation showcabin and wewere able to see the company’s actual showcabins which helped greatly with the ideas process. After anexcellent lunch with some of the ARCADION team we returned to school for the afternoon.

Wednesday 2nd November 2016

As part of Health Week, ARCADION kindly donated water bottles for all pupils featuring the new school logo andARCADION logo. These were issued to all pupils during period 6 today.

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ABOYNE ACADEMY & ARCADIONFriday 28th October 2016

Over the last few months Mrs Scott has been consulting with pupils,parents and staff to develop a new vision and values for Aboyne Academy.With these important statements now agreed we needed to consolidatethem into a format which could be easily understood and displayed withinthe school. Phil Hynd, one of ARCADION’s Design Technicians and LisaCormack, ARCADION Business Co-ordinator, took our “Believe, Achieve,Succeed” motto and 4 values and created the below graphic incorporatingour house colours. This will be shared with and displayed within thewhole school community.

Thursday 22nd September 2016

On Thursday 22nd September, we held our firstever Aboyne Academy Careers Fair. As part of acommittee of staff and senior pupils, ARCADIONTechnical Director Clive Gregory and BusinessCo-ordinator Lisa Cormack were instrumental inassisting us to organise and deliver the event.Working with a group of hospitality pupils, theARCADION team including Chef RussellMahoney provided refreshments on the day andwe received some very positive feedback frompupils and exhibitors about the day and thequality of the food! ARCADION also exhibited at the event with nearly all staff from their Aberdeen officeattending at some point during the day. The picture shows Clive, Russell and Hospitality pupil Katie Meston hardat work on the catering stand.

Monday 19th September 2016

As part of the new “Aiming Higher” course in S1, pupils were introduced to the schools partnership withARCADION today. ARCADION Design Technician Phil Hynd led a group of four ARCADION staff who spoke atmorning assembly and set a design task for the rest of the lesson,focusing on some key design and employability skills. Senior pupilswho had recently benefited from working with ARCADION were alsopresent in assembly to highlight the benefits of the partnership.

Wednesday 31st August 2016

Always keen to support our long standing partnership with the school,ARCADION have sponsored new school football strips for both theboys and girls teams. The kits, which carry both the ARCADION logoand the schools badge are seen here being modelled by some of thepupils accompanied by Lisa Cormack, ARCADION Business Co-ordinatorand Mr Birse.

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Partnership with Rotary Club of Aboyne and Upper Deeside

In August Aboyne Academy became the first corporate member of the Rotary Club of Aboyne and Upper Deeside.

The corporate membership scheme was developed by the Club to enhance the close relationship that already existsbetween the Academy and the Club to benefit the young people and communities of Upper Deeside.

The formal induction took place at a special meeting of the Club at the Loch Kinord Hotel where the Head Teacherand Senior Leadership Team, as representatives of the Academy, were welcomed into the Club.

A partnership charter was signed by Ruth Powell, Rotary President, on behalf of the Club and by Lorraine Scott, HeadTeacher, for the Academy. The Senior Leadership Team also includes Depute Head Teachers, Malcolm MacIntyre,Michael Foy and Barry Drennan and Support Services Co-ordinator, Dr Jonathan Holden.

The Club and the Academy, who both serve the same area, already have a long standing and supportive relationship.The Rotary Club sponsors pupils to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership camps each year as well as organising theYoung Photographer and Young Musician Competitions, supporting the annual Academy prize giving and assisting inthe assessment of the Young Philanthropist Initiative.

The aim of the partnership, and corporate membership, is to further assist the school in improving pupil attainmentand wellbeing as well as preparing pupils for the world of work. The Academy also have plans to help the Club toserve its communities.

The Club, as all Rotary Clubs throughout the UK and around the world, helps to raise funds and provide support forlocal good causes and international charities. This includes, locally, sponsorship of educational and personaldevelopment and sport, often in conjunction with Aboyne Academy and local primary schools.

Anyone who would like to know more about the work of the Rotary Club is welcome to contact Mike Powell on013398 86369 or mikepowell.obe@gmail.com or go onto the Rotary website at www.ribi.org

Partnerships

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Aboyne Golf Club

The Academy has engaged with Aboyne Golf Club in a variety of interesting and innovative ways over the past year.Our partnership was initiated when the club sent two representatives along to the school Business Breakfast back inMarch. The representatives completed an exit card stating clearly their desire to work with the school after realisingthe potential of both organisations working together. From that day on our pupils have been involved in a variety ofprojects to advertise the club by creating pull-up banners and designing new club leaflets which enhance the appealof playing at this fantastic venue. They have obviously further developed their marketing skills as well as furtherdeveloping the skills needed to obtain a good grade in Graphic Communication.

In addition Aboyne Golf Club provided work experience opportunities spanning the different aspects of careerswithin the industry for our pupils which was extremely well received.

We have a number of exceptionally talented pupils and the club is extremely proactive in organising junior eventsand promoting the positive of the game to potential new recruits. They recently hosted an inter-house competitionwhich was extremely popular and helped to further promote our positive ethos as well as stimulate interest in thegame.

I have every confidence that the partnership between Aboyne Academy and Aboyne Golf Club will continue fromstrength to strength.

Duke of Edinburgh Award Update

We were very busy after the summer holidays trying to get as many Bronze and Silver expeditions completed aspossible.  This has encouraged pupils to finish their Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections and to fully completetheir Award.  To date, 26 Bronze awards and 2 Silver awards have been certified – well done to all pupils involved!Pupils who have yet to fully complete their Award are encouraged to do so as soon as possible – if anyone is unsure ofwhat they need to do, then please come and see Mrs Birnie for guidance.

In October, we invited S3 pupils to start working towards their Bronze awards and were astounded to receive 65applications – just over half the S3 cohort!  These pupils have been attending weekly lunchtime training sessions toprepare them for the expedition section and many of them have also started working towards their Volunteering,Physical and Skills sections outwith School.  We are also currently accepting applications from pupils who wish toprogress on to the next level of the Award.

A huge thank you to everyone who helps support the Duke of Edinburgh Award program – group leaders, expeditionassessors, assessors for the volunteering, physical and skills sections, parents, etc – and a very merry Christmas to youall!

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Our First Careers Fair

On Thursday 22nd September, Aboyne Academy held its first careers fair. The event, organised by a group ofteachers, pupils and representatives from our business partner ARCADION, hosted over 30 employers andorganisations based on research into pupils interests.

The careers fair was held during school hours for pupils and staff and after school for parents. The event broughtbusinesses and ex-pupils together to talk to students about opportunities for their future with a wide range oforganisations represented ranging from the Royal Forces to accountancy firms and also some universities andcolleges. Ex-pupils were invited along to talk to pupils about their experiences after leaving school which provedhugely popular with everyone who attended these sessions.

The day was supported by the school’s business partner, ARCADION, who sponsored the event providingrefreshments throughout with various members of their team present to speak to pupils about all aspects of theirbusiness.

Prefects and the careers fair team assisted with the logistics and made sure the day ran smoothly. The event was ahuge success and following positive feedback from teachers, pupils, and employers the decision has been taken torun regular career fairs as it provides pupils with a better understanding of life after education and the opportunitiesthat are on offer in the local area.

The careers fair team would like to thank everyone involved, especially all the organisations and ex-pupils who camealong and made the day such a success.

Louise Birse of BBKS Books visited the school on Friday 7th November to award prizes to the winners of their ‘My BigIdea’ competition which pupils entered on the day of the Careers Fair. The task was to come up with an innovative ideafor a business. The overall winner was Elizabeth Batchelor from 3L2, who already runs her own business, ‘Equii CraftProducts’, selling dog leads and goods for horses. This really impressed the judges, winning her a £50 Amazon voucher.Due to the number of excellent ideas that were submitted, BBKS chose 4 runners-up who each won a £20 Cineworldvoucher for their creativity. The runners-up were James Knowles, Nathaniel Monahan-Lai, Daniela Muollo and LucyMacaulay, who got special mention for her idea for a toastie shop humorously titled called ‘The Toast Office’ as it madeeveryone in the BBKS office smile.

Louise and the rest of the BBKS team were thoroughly impressed by the ingenuity of Aboyne Academy pupils andcommended all of our pupils for their enthusiasm and good manners during the Careers Fair. Following the Fair, BBKSstaff are now working with our Business Studies Faculty to support Advanced Higher Accounts. Thank you to Louise andher team for your generosity and support!

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Faculty News and ReviewsENGLISH

Academy’s Writer in Residence

Our S2 English class have started to work with an author called Alastair Scott. We will have quite a few lessons withour writer in residence. Most of the lessons have been before the Christmas holidays and then we will finish with afew lessons after the New Year.

We have started to read some extracts out of one of his books, which is in progress; “The Stone-Traveller Saga”. Wehave annotated the text and have been giving him some feedback. He shall then read some of our creative writingand give us some feedback. It is definitely the class helping Alastair and him helping us.

Once that is finished as a whole class we shall be writing a book with Alastair Scott. As you can imagine this is a hugeopportunity for us and we are looking forward to the rest of our time with our writer in residence.

Alastair is a very exquisite chap who loves feedback and learning things. He shows a true passion for writing andwords. He has, over a period of time, written down an extremely long list of vocabulary. These were words which hewas unfamiliar with but he has subsequently researched the definitions. This is something we might like to do to de-velop our own writing.

I highly recommend Alastair Scott’s writing, his story draws you in and you get caught up in a tornado when you’rereading it. However, all of his other books are adult books therefore this is the first young adult book which he haswritten.

We look forward to him publishing this book, complete with our suggestions!

Sasha Eriksson,2L1

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Cathy MacPhail VisitsCreative Writing Competition

In her talk, Cathy MacPhail set the pupils the challenge of writinga story based on fear and, as it was House Week, we decided torun it as a competition for all of our S2. There was a fantasticresponse from pupils with many submitting a story done in theirown time. Fiona Robertson, Network Librarian and Sabine Muir,Senior Library Assistant were tasked with choosing the bestthree; a difficult job considering the volume and quality of theentries. ‘The standard was exceptional,’ reported Fiona, ‘withsome wonderful vivid description and build up of tension.’ Thetop three entries came from Katie Hendry in first place, TosiaBrozek in second and Ella Feeley in third who all gained housepoints and a prize. Well done to the three winners but all pupilswho entered did well!

Mrs Mercer

Cathy MacPhail talks toAboyne and Alford pupils

Cathy MacPhail, author of ‘Another Me’, visitedAlford Academy and the pupils of AboyneAcademy were invited to join in her talk. Thelimited available spaces for the Aboyne pupilswere quickly filled up the day before the tripwhen it was revealed what the benefits ofattending would be and what it was going to beabout.

She explained where she got her ideas fromand showed a trailer for the upcoming movieadaptation of her best selling novel, ‘AnotherMe’. She also told the pupils how she learnedto write and how she sometimes made booksinspired by something as unimportant as asingle sentence. She also inspired some of theattending students to write their own stories.We used an opening sentence and wrote thecontinuation of the story. It was an amazingtalk, and we hope for something else like itsoon to inspire the writers of Aboyne Academy.

Jacob Higgins, 2C1

I really enjoyed our trip to listen to Cathy MacPhail at AlfordAcademy. It was so interesting to find out about her journey tofame and inspirations for amazing novels. It was such a greatopportunity, I am really glad I went. She answered all of ourquestions and was super inspiring!

Leila Fernandez, 2M2

The Cathy MacPhail trip was really good because you got find outwhat it would be like if you were a writer. Cathy told us howlong it takes her to write a book, which is often only a fewmonths! She is very disciplined and organises her time strictlywhen writing – a top tip! I really liked the trip because she toldus how she got inspired to write all of her books and also showedus the trailer to a film made from her book! It was really fun!

Tally Martin, 2L2

WriteFest at Aberdeen University

It has been tradition, for Advanced Higher English students to travel into Aberdeen University for WriteFest. For thefirst time in six years, WriteFest has taken a stage far closer to home, for us at least, becoming a far smaller andcompact affair. Aboyne Academy played host to the presentation of writing talent from Alan Bissett (playwright andauthor) and Catherine Deveney (freelance journalist) with pupils from Alford, Westhill and Banchory academiestravelling here to participate. The event only happened thanks to the network librarians and our own librarian FionaRobertson who has done so very much for our ADVH class already and we are incredibly grateful for her enthusiasmand input toward the event. I personally enjoyed Bissett’s segment where he took us through the decisions a writermakes when applying tension to a piece, referring to the term “hook” and referencing the film “Jaws” to explainthat the fear factor that came from the giant shark was not achieved entirely by its final floppy model appearance,but rather by the build-up beforehand. Bissett made it clear that without the build-up the shark’s reveal is worthlessand this is an important lesson I have learned for any type of creative writing.

Seoras Blair, 6L3Continues on next page

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I really enjoyed having the experience of speaking to a real writers who have had years in their industries. Ifound Catherine Deveney really inspiring when she spoke about her journalistic experiences and she made methink in different ways about my discursive writing. Equally Alan Bissett’s enthusiasm had the whole roomengaged and inspired to start writing creative pieces. I think the experience was incredibly useful and gave usplenty of ideas and inspiration to start writing pieces for our folios. I particularly enjoyed Catherine Deveney’stalk on the many interviews she has done; it was fascinating learning about where her career in journalism hastaken her in addition to the tips on discursive writing. We were all very lucky to have the library staff organisethis event for us and I am sure everyone there, including the pupils from other schools, benefited enormouslyfrom what they had to say. Overall I would say that the experience was a great start to our Advanced Highercourse and definitely gave me the inspiration needed for the year.

Freya Cookson, 6C1

BUSINESS EDUCATION

Real Coca-Cola Business Challenge

Recently the S3 Business class took part in the Real Coca-Cola Business Challenge. This is an exciting enterprisecompetition, set by Coca-Cola European Partners, which challenges pupils to tackle a business task. It is work-relatedlearning at its most engaging and an opportunity for pupils to develop enterprise skills that will give them a competitiveedge in today’s job market.

The class was split into two teams (companies) who each came up with a healthy fruit drink brand idea. The pupils showeda huge amount of enthusiasm and effort and took their individual company roles seriously. They worked on thecommercial potential of the product, sustainability, promotion of the Special Olympics Great Britain, teamwork,community affairs, management of financial information, marketing , human resources and leadership.

The companies competed against one another by presenting their business proposals to the judges (Miss Sivewright andMr Drennan) who had a very hard decision to make. However, there could be only one winner - Tinge Juice Company.Congratulations to Roan Grant (CEO), Kieron Cassie, Jamie McAra, Becky Findlater, Mimi Hutchison, Rachael Marshalseyand Annabel Ritchie. Commiserations to Ellipsis who were Aiden McMahon (CEO), Josh Buchanan, Caitlin Rattray, GraceWilliams, Emily Wilson, Hannah Thom, Connor McInally and Christina Cox.

The winning presentation was sent to Coca-Cola to be judged and they said although the Aboyne Academy entry was “highlycompetitive” unfortunately Tinge was not selected to attend the regional finals in February 2017.

Gina Solimeno, Education Programme Manager at Coca-Cola European Partners said, “Over 1000 schools got involved in thechallenge this year and the standard of entries was exceptionally high. They have demonstrated great enterprise incompleting the in-school challenge and I do hope they have enjoyed taking part.”

Mrs Forsyth

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DEESIDE PLUS

We are a group of pupils from S5 and 6 who have set up a business through Young Enterprise. YoungEnterprise is a charity and they help young people between the ages of 4-25 to develop their businessskills and set up their own business. Young Enterprise is run by volunteers and has a competition at the end of the yearto see what group had the best group overall and this is judged by a few things such as coordination, communication,etc.

In this business we came up with the idea of making scrabble photo frames. These can be personalised with familynames for example and we also have a few “ready prepared” frames on offer. Each of us invested our own moneyinto this company and became shareholders. Hopefully we will see dividends at the end of the year!

Our group has 2 different teams within it, the selling team and the production team. Each member of the team has adifferent business role to play. Rhys and Kieran are Managing Directors, Lance the Accountant, Rebecca the Secretary,Jaimee is Operations Manager and Caitlin and Shannon have responsibility for production. Each week we have abusiness meeting with a Business Advisor, Paul Cummins and Miss Sivewright.

We have faced quite a few difficulties along the way with the production of frames, the ordering of raw materials butin the end we have ended up with a good product which has been successful in personalised orders and set frames.

We had a great day at the Aboyne Academy school fair where we learnt a lot about sellingtechniques and also managed to make some money which was a bonus!

Rebecca McBeath, Company Secretary

Performing Arts NewsMusic Success

Huge congratulations to Osh Arthur (S5) who was awarded a scholarship for piano at the North EastScotland Music School. A fantastic achievement!

We were delighted to learn that Kara Taylor (S5) has been accepted into the Aberdeen City MusicSchool in Dyce. We are all very proud of her, however she will be missed greatly at Aboyne Academyhaving been a huge part of the life of the faculty over the last few years. In October, Kara also participated in the‘Go Compose’ workshop with the Sound Festival and her composition has been chosen to be performed in

Edinburgh to highlight the festival and to help them with fundraising. Another greatachievement. Well Done Kara!

Our congratulations also extend to Jessica Lindsay (S3) who was successful in her recent auditioninto the Aberdeenshire Youth Orchestra . Jessica will join the Cello section and we look forwardto hearing of future performances with the ensemble. I am sure Jessica will have some greatstories!

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Exam SuccessHuge congratulations to the following pupils who have received their marks in the recent exam sitting.Ross Smith (S4) – Grade 5 Saxophone – MeritCallum Geddes (S4) – Grade 6 Piano – DistinctionKatie Bannister (S1) – Grade 1 Voice – MeritEllie Bannister (S6) – Grade 6 (Classical) Voice – Merit & Grade 3(Popular) – MeritEllie Stephen (S2) – Grade 1 Guitar – PassedFraser Anderson(S6) – Grade 5 Guitar – Passed

The following pupils sat their exam and are still waiting results:-Keira Low – Grade 1 Guitar Blair Christie – Grade 2 DrumkitFraser Donald – Grade 4 Drumkit Ralph Silcock – Grade 3 DrumkitKit Newman – Grade 3 Guitar Rachel Greenwood – Grade 5 PianoRory Geddes – Grade 3 Drumkit Jack Cowie – Debut DrumkitKyle Whitehead – Grade 2 Violin Dylan Atkinson – Grade 2 ViolinLogan Brown – Grade 2 Violin Callum Geddes – Grade 4 ViolinTom McLintock – Grade 3 Bass Guitar Connor McInally – Grade 3 DrumkitYasmin Taylor – Grade 3 Drumkit Ross Smith – Grade 3 Drumkit

Staff NewsWe would like to say a warm welcome to two new members of the Performing Arts Faculty, Mrs Sarah Bell and MissFern Lindsay. They arrived in school at a very busy time in the lead up to our Christmas concert and their help,support and enthusiasm was very much appreciated. We look forward to working with them and they will be a greatasset to our team.

Bells of Brass

Nothing quite says Christmas like the sound of a brass band playingcarols. Punters at the Aboyne Academy Christmas Fair wereentertained by some of our brass pupils along with Mr Cosgrove andMrs Bleck. Thank you to all involved.

Christmas Concert

Tuesday Night (13th December) saw yet another brilliant spread oftalent from our pupils within the Faculty. Well done to all staff andpupils involved for many many hours of hard work and practice behind the scenes. Some great feedback was hadfrom members of the audience who once again were amazed by the gifted pupils we have at this school. Thank youalso to all parents and carers for their continued support and not to mention all the carting of instruments andchildren to various practices. We look forward to seeing you all again for the Summer concert! In the mean time wewish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

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Maths in the Pipeline

On the 25th of November a group of five S4 girls (Lucy, Lauren, Sophie, Tara and I) all went to Aberdeen to TOTAL’sBritish headquarters for the STEM Maths in the Pipeline workshop for the opportunity to see how maths can beapplied in real life situations. When we arrived we were split into groups with other schools and as an ice-breakerchallenge we had to build a stable helicopter landing pad using five sheets of paper, some paperclips and scissors.It allowed everyone to show their skills and work together to create the tallest and stable landing pad.

The day then consisted of talks from industry professionals and we were set a workbook with questions relatingto the presentations, we were helped by the industry professionals and the teachers. After lunch we got to do abusiness challenge where we were given questions to do with finding an oil reservoir and then had to produce apresentation to present to all the people there and the industry professionals.

At the end of the day, after presenting and completing all the booklets, my team came first and it was a greatexperience. Overall the day was a great opportunity to see how maths can actually be applied in the workplaceand mixing with other schools and people we don’t know to see everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

Ailsa Gardyne, 4C2

Techfest’s Maths Masterclass series is aimed for all S2 pupils across theNorth-East of Scotland and provide a more realistic mathematicalexperience than you would get in the classroom. Techfest and theirsponsors Cheveron and the Royal Institution are providing these

Masterclasses for S2’s all across the United Kingdom. The Masterclasses have a range of topics, fromCodes and Ciphers to Fun with Numbers. The Masterclasses are been taken by university lecturers, private tutorsand professors.

This year Aboyne Academy has five S2 pupils attending these Masterclasses, which are held at Robert Gordon’sUniversity in Aberdeen.

Ethan Sutherland, 2L1

Techfest Maths into Finance

On Wednesday, 16th November, we went into Aberdeen to do a Maths into Finance course organised by Techfestand sponsored by Aberdein Considine. The day consisted of travelling into Aberdeen Town and County Hall to dotwo courses followed by a big challenge.

The first course was understanding payslips. First it was explained to us then we were given a booklet which hadsome real examples to solve. To complete the example we needed to calculate a payslip using real code whichshowed how much Income Tax and National Insurance you had to pay. We were also told about the different kindsof bank accounts and which one would be most beneficial for us.

The second course was calculating interest and loans. Mortgages were also explained to us and this in turn told uswhat the company, Aberdein Considine, did. We were given real-life examples and had to decide whether or not itwas sensible lending.

For the big challenge we had to choose an appropriate house for a growing family. First we had to calculate the in-come and monthly expenses and choose a house based on the money we had left over. Our team met with a repre-sentative from Aberdein Considine to agree mortgage payments. We chose a house and put in a bid.To end the day we gave a brief presentation on the reasons for our choice. Unfortunately we were outbid, but itwas still a great day.

Dani McGregor 2M2, Ben Faichnie 2C3, Sasha Eriksson 2L1

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Aboyne Academy Hits the ‘Big Apple’

On the 6th October 2016, 29 pupils, 3 teachers and Buttony Bear(metro.co.uk/2016/04/28/how-a-teddy-bear-is-helping-kids-with-an-ostomy-to-smile-5824425/) from Aboyne Academy left Aboyne for an action packed trip to New York.

The trip was organised by Mrs Liversedge and Mrs Summers of the Modern StudiesDepartment (Humanities) and was magnificently supported by the Faculty Head EwanSargent. The group stayed in Midtown Manhattan and explored New York largely by footcovering 38 miles in 4 days!

Visits took in many of the well-known New York sights including a trip to the top of theEmpire State Building, a tour of The United Nations, Liberty and Ellis Island, taking MrSargent to Tiffany’s on Wall Street and of course, seeing School of Rock at the Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway

which had us all on our feet and dancing. We even had time for shopping on 5th

Avenue

There were many highlights and everyone had their favourite part, but we allagreed that our visit to the Ground Zero Memorial was very powerful andmoving. We all needed our hot dogs, pretzels and a walk across the BrooklynBridge to put the bounce back in our step. From the New York diner breakfast todinner in Times Square, each day was packed full of new, exciting and challengingexperiences.

The pupils very gamely took turns in taking Buttony Bear around New York &getting him photographed in various places, including on the flight deck of a DeltaBoeing 747! This helped to raise awareness of the local charity that provides bearsto help children understand their abdominal surgery. Their tweets and Facebook

posts were shared widely and the teachers took part in a stunt on top of the Empire State Building which resulted inMr Summers sponsoring a bear on behalf of the school.

Scott Grant celebrated his 16th birthday in New York, with a cake from the diner staff in the morning and balloons onhis rucksack all day; despite this trauma he described his trip as ‘Amazing’. Scott said that his favourite experiencewas the Empire State Building but he also said that he thought that the visit to the 9/11 memorial centre and groundzero was “very much worth it and would really stick with me”. Ailsa Gardyne said she “loved everything” but theEmpire State Building really stood out and the shopping! She was really amazed by Time Square being so busy so lateat night. When asked both, pupils said they would recommend the trip to “everyone”.

It was a fantastic trip and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The pupils behaved magnificentlyand were complemented where ever we went from the Delta Airline crew that we flewwith to staff in the Hard Rock Café and lastly from us, your staff – thank you for anamazing trip!

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The Higher Design and Manufacture Higher class have entered a competition to design a time capsule for the newVictoria and Albert Dundee museum. The finished time capsule will be installed in the grounds of the new V&ADundee museum ahead of its opening in 2018. The time capsule will be filled with items suggested by local primaryschool pupils and opened in 50 years. This will be a unique feature, permanently on display in the grounds of themuseum, close to the river and will celebrate the opening in 2018. The V&A is collaborating with the SQA andJaguar, a world leader in the luxury car industry, to manufacture the winning design. The winning student will seetheir design realised on a week-long work placement at the Jaguar state of the art manufacturing facility in Coventry.The class have enthusiastically designed, modelled and created a wide range of innovative concepts that will besubmitted for the competition.

Art, Design & Technology

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Art Department Christmas Card Competition

Congratulations to all who entered cards for the competition. The standardwas extremely high showing we have some very talented artists in the school.

First was Katie Entwistle 1C2, second was Kirsty Robertson 1C1 and third wasMaisie Hewes 1M1. They got SLT merits and house points awarded. The threecards were used for the official Academy Christmas Card. Pictured right is thewinning card by Katie.

SCIENCE NEWS

Girls in Engineering Conference

I took part in the first “Girls in Engineering” conference on the 26th October at St. Margaret’s School for Girls.Ninety pupils attended from all over Scotland. The day started with a welcoming from the head teacher followedby talks from inspirational women who held important positions in the engineering sector. The talk by the editorof Energy Voice, Rita Brown was most capturing as she spoke about her journey to where she is now and howengineering has surrounded her life, but being a woman hadn’t held her back. The day continued with activitiesand workshops run by lecturers from the University of Aberdeen who gave a hands-on insight into the type ofthings each discipline of engineering could involve. When we took a break for lunch, students from the universityshowcased their TAU racing project which was very impressive, especially when they demonstrated the F1 carthey had built and raced the previous year. This was made more exciting when camera crews from differentnews stations turned up to broadcast the event. After lunch women at different stages in their engineeringcareers spoke to us about what they had achieved and how becoming an engineer had benefitted them. We alsohad the opportunity to ask them many questions about their career pathways and the challenges they faced asfemale engineers. The last activity of the day was a Q&A session with the engineering admissions from AberdeenUniversity who gave us some top tips on how to make our personal statements shine. Overall I found the dayvery informative. It motivated me, even more, to pursue a career in engineering, especially since the dayhighlighted how important it is for women to be involved in this sector as presently only 13% of engineeringgraduates are female.

Ellie Bannister, 6L1

Chinese Club

Term 2 saw the start of Chinese Club at Aboyne Academy. Theclub takes place every Tuesday lunchtime and is run by LanceZhou, an S6 pupil originally from China. Lance was keen to sharethe Chinese language and culture with his fellow pupils at theschool, and the club has been well attended by both pupils andstaff!

So far in Chinese club, we have been learning how to say manythings, including the basic greetings, numbers, school subjects,and lots more. We have also been trying to master writing in Chinese! We really enjoy the club as the language iscomplicated but interesting and fun to learn. It is also taught very well by Lance and the atmosphere every lunch-time is always welcoming.

Katie Strachan (3L1), Laura Thomson (3M2) (and slightly amended by Mrs Miller!)

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Life in Room 7

Enterprise: Gregor Smith S1

In room 7 we have an enterprise project which sells bird food. We have a banker and some helpers. We have a lot ofcustomers who buy sunflower seeds, fat balls, mixed bird seedand peanuts. I enjoy being the banker.

Country Dancing: Iona Cruickshank S3We are learning the country dancing for the school Christmasceilidh. There is a band who plays at the Ceilidh. The dances areGay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeant and the Canadian BarnDance. The dances are easy because I know them all because myparents play in a ceilidh band.

Signing: Emily Plant S3

We do signing to communicate with Sarah who is deaf to make life easier. It is nice to talk with other people and in-clude them in conversation. It is quite good because you might meet other people who can’t hear. I like to be able tochat to Sarah because she is my best friend. Miss Cameron who is Sarah’s teaches our signing class with Mrs Forbes.

Boccia: Brodie Anderson S3In Boccia we throw a Ball to get it near the White ball. It’s Kind of like a bowlinggreen but inside. We go to the Games hall and the Squash Court. We go to theSquash Court on Tuesday. This is a good game to play because it is fun and it’s agood for our group and for Disabled people in wheelchairs.

Skiing: Sarah Tocher S3

We went skiing for our outdoor activities.The skiing is at Alford so we get there by minibus. Firstwe have our packed lunch then we go and get our hel-mets, boot and gloves on. We carry our skis outside

then put them on. The instructor showed us how to ski and snowplough downhill. We alsolearned how to walk sideways uphill with skis on. We had lots of practise on the dry skislope and some of us went on the really big slope. After the skiing we all got to go tubing,even some of the staff joined in it was great fun with lots of laughs.

Swimming: Craig Hutchinson S3

We have two days of swimming. Tuesdays 10 pupils go swimming. Wednesdays 7 pupilsgo swimming. At the moment we are doing backcrawl and learning butterfly stroke. My favourite bit is the fun timeat the end when we get to go on the floats.

Fitness room: Douglas Smith S3

In my P.E lesson. I go to the Fitness Room with Mrs Forbes and Brodie. We go on the treadmill and the bike andloads of other machines.We go every Tuesday because I Like the treadmill and the cross trainer.It’s good to keep healthy and fit. It’s hard work and I get tired but I am getting fit.

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Room 7 I.T. Lessons: Zak Buchanan S3

In I.T, we make posters for our birdseed enterprise. We learn how to use Fonts, colours (to make the poster standout), borders and also how to work with and import pictures. We learnt how to make tables, in which we made ourown school timetables.Now we are learning about internet shopping. And then, we learn how to find cheap prices for DVDs, CDs etc onsites such as Amazon or Tesco Direct.

PE: Robert Smith & Mickey Paton S2

In PE this term we have played sort tennis and boccia. We have also done ball skills. In ballskills we played cat and mouse and bench ball. I like both these games. On a hot day weplayed rounders outside but we can’t do it now because it’s too cold. Robert’s favourite iscat and mouse because people have to catch your tail. Mickey’s favourite is also cat andmouse because you have to make a plan quickly and then people block you and you haveto go somewhere else.Mickey and Robert also go to mainstream PE with 2L2. We played basketball, football andtennis. We both like tag rugby best – everybody in the class liked it.

Rockwall: Robert and Mickey S2In our PE lessons we have also been climbing the Rock Wall in the PE hall with Mrs Kitching. We wear a helmet andharness and long trousers so we don’t scrape our knees. Robert climbed nearly to the top but Mickey, Sarah and Br-odie went right to the top. Sarah was like Spiderwoman! It’s difficult because the wall is quite cold and your handsget sore and red. It was scary but fun too. I was proud of myself!

Cooking: Kate Cowley S3 & Daniel Garden S1On a Friday we cook. In the morning we goshopping. We walk along the old railway line.We buy things in the Co-op. I pay with money inmy wallet. I am good at shopping. We walk backto school.In the afternoon we go to the HE room. Wewear aprons to keep our clothes clean. We havemade soup, buns, sandwiches and pancakes. Iliked the buns best. The oven is hot. I have toput on oven gloves. We have to wash and drythe dirty dishes. I like drying best. We leave theHE room clean and tidy. We take or cookinghome at the end of the day. Mum and Dad tastethem. My cooking is delicious. Cooking is fun.

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Room 7 Pupils go to the Pantomime

On Wednesday 7th December a group of pupils from R7 went to the pantomime, “Batman and Robin”, in theAboyne theatre. One of our friends, Zak Buchanan 3L3, was taking part. This is what the pupils thought aboutthe show:

Iona – “I thought Zak did great last night.”

Kate – “The pantomime was great last night. I liked the dancing.”

Daniel gave it the thumbs up.

Douglas – “The Penguin was my favourite.”

Brodie – “The funniest bit of all was with the bat mobile with Batman and Robin in it.”

Emily – “The jokes were the best.”

Accompanying the pupils were Mrs Forbes, Mrs Greenwood, Mrs Kitching and Mrs Ross.

Queen Portraits - Press & Journal competition

To celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday, the Press & Journal asked children to draw their own portrait of the Queen.

Douglas Smith and Sarah Tocher were in the top 90 and their portraits are shown below:

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SPORTING NEWS AND REVIEWSSchool Games at Loughborough University

Two pupils from Aboyne Academy attended the 2016 School Games at Loughborough University inSeptember.

The event was run over 4 days and is designed as a mini Olympic games, allowing young athletes theopportunity to sample the atmosphere of a real Olympic event. The event started with an openingceremony and ended with a closing ceremony and all the athletes stay in an athlete’s village on the campus.

There were 11 sports represented varying from Judo and wheelchair basketball to hockey, fencing andathletics. The opening ceremony was held on Thursday evening the 1st September with the team paradefeaturing athletes and para-athletes from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Abigail McBeath (former S6 pupil) took the School Games Oath on stage on behalf of coaches andwas representing the Scottish Judo team.

Madeleine Silcock was competing in the U17 womens 4 x 100m Scottish relay team, who came a respectable4th in the face of very tough competition.

FOOTBALL - UNDER 14 BOYS

The U14 boys football team played Inverurie Academy in theAberdeenshire Cup on Wednesday 14th Dec at Inverurie. Aboyneplayed very well with a faultless first half performance. They led3-0 at half-time with Callum Duncan scoring a fantastic hat-trick. Inthe second half, Inverurie Academy were the more dominant sideand battled back to score three goals resulting in the game going topenalty kicks. Aboyne missed their first two penalties but thenwith a bit of luck Inverurie failed to capitalise on their advantageand Aboyne finally won 4-3 with the winning goal being scored byLiam Harker. The game was very enjoyable and the pupils shouldbe very proud of themselves.

Mr Birse

World Schools orienteering success

Brilliant news from the World Schools selection race on 28th August2016... Aboyne Academy won the junior boys section and have qualifiedto represent Scotland at the World Schools in Sicily in April! The team wasMatthew Gooch, Grant McMurtrie, Ralph Silcock and Angus Fraser.

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TENNIS

The Academy Tennis Team have been enjoying Scottish Cup action with the girls team smashing their way into thethird round and the boys team going out after a really tough match against Albyn School in their second round.

Having knocked out Nairn Academy in the first round a few weeks ago, the girls team (Emily Marshall, KaylaMitchell-Mehta, Caitlin Fraser and Catherine Cowie) had what looked like a tough second round match againstAberdeen Grammar. The girls stepped up and performed extremely well and won all 4 singles games and bothdoubles games to take the match victory at 12-0. A few of the games were tight and the girls really dug in with grittyattitudes and found the tactics and strategies needed to win. The doubles top pairings match was close, with Kaylaand Emily coming from a set down to win in a championship tie break. Team captain Emily commented that teamspirit, good training habits and sheer determination had pulled them through the match.

For the first round, the boys team (Fraser Anderson, Grant McMurtrie, Cameron Smith and Joel George) travelled toMontrose expecting a tough match. However, our boys managed to come away with a 10-2 match victory, winningboth doubles games and 3 out of the 4 singles games. Our number one player Fraser has been in great form recentlyand won the Aboyne doubles club championships. In the build-up week to their second round game against Albyn,the boys had to deal with the news that their star player Fraser would be unable to play having sustained an ankleinjury whilst slipping off a tractor. However, Rory Meldrum stepped in and they made the trip to Westburn indoortennis centre knowing that the match was likely to be tough. The travelling time enabled the boys to get in the zonefor the opening and extremely vital doubles games. Grant and Rory's doubles game was played at an extremely highstandard against two good city players with very good tennis ratings. They competed extremely well but eventuallylost 6-4, 6-4 in a match that lasted nearly two hours. Joel and Cameron won their doubles and singles games fairlyeasily and therefore brought the overall match score to 6-6. So the match went to a tie break shootout, which onpaper looked like it could go either way. However, Albyn’s Finn Pearson dominated the tie break and took the win10-5 for Albyn and put an end to the Journey for the boys this year.

Team coach Graham Kay said "I’m really proud of the kids. They set such a great example for Aboyne Academyshowing impeccable behaviour, a high standard of tennis and demonstrating an unbelievably good attitudethroughout their matches. They worked well as individuals and as part of a team. They are also a credit to AboyneTennis Club and the Deeside Tennis Squad where they train. It's impressive the way they performed with skill andclass and fought for absolutely every single point in every match. The girls are looking forward to training hard andgetting prepared for the next round match. The boys can hold their heads high as they performed so well against areally strong team and the match really could have gone either way. "

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Shona Park, Active Schools Coordinator,shona.park@aberdeenshire.gov.uk 07823536215

Active Schools Round Up December 2016 - Aboyne Academy

Running Club – Running Club has grown from strength tostrength with the help of our dedicated team of volunteers fromDeeside Runners: Ben Preece, Warren Burgess, Roger Coombsand Sam Rendall. They have been putting the pupils throughtheir paces with hill sprints, distance runs, interval training andcross country running. Well done to all the boys and girls whoattend regularly and work hard, you are a credit to the school.

Basketball Club – Active Schools currently have S1-3 basketballon a Tuesday in Aboyne led by dedicated volunteer Dave Rendalland S4-6 (U18s) basketball on a Sunday also led by Dave, whichtakes place in Banchory with pupils from Banchory Academy tohelp bring the two schools together and provide a pathway toBanchory Stags Club. We have had many challenges this termwith the hall and coach availability but look forward to moving the Tuesday S1-3 session to a Thursday next term6-7pm starting on Thurs 12th Jan, which may help combat some of these problems. Active Schools would like to thankDave for his continued support in developing basketball in this area with Primary and Academy pupils.

Social Sports Club – Active Schools provided a lunchtime social sports club for pupils who don’t already take part in anafter school club. We played basketball and badminton and it provided a good change for many pupils who may havenot tried these sports otherwise. The response was great and there is definitely scope to make this club morepermanent next term. We will look to start on Wed 18th January 2017.

Boys Hockey – Boys hockey has developed well this term with the addition of Mr Lindsay (biology teacher) a Level 1UKCC hockey coach whose dedication and enthusiasm has definitely influenced the attendance. We now have aregular group of 22 boys playing hockey which is great to see. Mr Lindsay is supported by Ellie Bannister (S6) whoseexperience and knowledge playing district level hockey along with her Level 1 UKCC award has greatly helped. Theaddition of a goalie kit this year has also enabled Mr Lindsay to train some of the boys in goal keeping skills which hasbeen great fun.

Netball Juniors/Seniors – The junior team led by Mhairi Welsh (S5) and Jo Croll and supported by Lily Croll (S4) hasseen some great uptake this year with 20 girls attending on a regular basis. The seniors are led by Joyce Welsh, Jo Crolland Mhairi Welsh(S5) and are now a team of 15 girls which is great. Joyce and Jo have been dedicated volunteers forapprox. 10 years with netball in Primary and Secondary school and their experience is invaluable. Their commitmentand enthusiasm is very encouraging for the girls and has helped the teams grow over the years. This year the teamshave also participated in the Scottish Schools matches and are through to bronze level and the next round in Januaryso good luck to all.

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Girls Football – The girl’s football team has been popular this year with approx. 20 girls attending every week. Thisyear the team has been led by senior pupils Kurt Grant and Danny Nicoll and recently the addition of Mrs Leslie (PEteacher) who has helped to get the girls involved in the Scottish Schools Cup. The boys have done a great job helpingto structure the sessions with some more fitness and skill development for the girls which has really helped to developthe team. The support from Mrs Leslie has been very valuable and enabled the girls to participate in gameopportunities.

Many thanks again to our Business partner ARCADION for supplying the girls football strips. Don’t they look smart asthey prepare to play their first Scottish Schools Cup game against Cults Academy?

Badminton – Active Schools are delighted to be able to offer badminton again to pupils with thanks to Mr Woods (Artteacher) volunteering to help get this going. We have 12 pupils playing again after school on a Thursday which is greatand it has been going well. To enable this club to progress we are looking for any parent volunteers who wish to helpout. You don’t need any experience to start with and it would be a case of supervising pupils. If you are interestedplease contact me at shona.park@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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Girls Hockey – We now have a strong girl’s hockey team with approx. 35 girls attending on a regular basis which isfantastic. This team is led by a dedicated team of volunteers including Mrs Crawford (Maths teacher), Mr Lindsay(Biology teacher) and Ellie Bannister (S6 pupil). With the help of the coaches the girl’s skills and fitness levels havegreatly improved and we hope to test these out next term against some other teams.

Hockey Report

Every Friday after school the girls’ hockey club is on. This club is taken by Mr Lindsay and Mrs Crawford. At the startof each session we warm up by firstly running a lap of the astro pitch and then doing some suicide runs (this keepsus fit!) After that we go into some drill, for instance we pass between pairs and then you try and shoot against ourtough goal keeper! After that we go into hockey matches. You learn quickly but everyone will help you learn. Theteams are always fair and we now have brand new bibs (they don’t smell!). The hockey club has a range of ages fromS1 to S6. Always bring a jacket with you because we play in rain and snow.

Amelie Flavill, Hannah Smart and Shauna Anderson all 2C3

Thanks again to all our volunteers, teachers and pupils who take part in Active Schoolsclubs and activities. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Start dates for next termRunning Club – Monday 9th January 3.45pm-4.45pm - Meet in CanteenSocial Sports Club – Wednesday 18th January 1.10-1.40pm – Games Hall

Boys Hockey – Wednesday 11th January 3.45pm-5pm – All Weather PitchNetball Juniors – Wednesday 11th January 3.45-4.45pm – Games HallNetball Seniors – Wednesday 11th January 4.45pm-6pm – Games Hall

Girls Football – Thursday 12th January 3.45pm-5pm – All Weather PitchBadminton – Thursday 12th January 3.45pm-5pm – Games Hall

S1-3 Basketball – Thursday 12th January 6-7pm – Games HallVolleyball – Friday 13th January 1.10-1.40pm – Games Hall

Girls Hockey – Friday 13th January 3.45pm-4.45pm – All Weather PitchS4-6 (U18’s) Basketball – Sunday 15th January 1-3pm – Banchory Academy Games Hall

Aboyne Academy hockey club wearing new bibs bought with money from Run Balmoral Sports Bursary. Manythanks to Run Balmoral for their kind donation.

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December21 End of Term (Wednesday)

January 20175 Start of Term (Thursday)17 S2 Parents Evening18 S1 reports issued24 Senior Phase Parents’ Curriculum Evening26 Head Teacher Drop-in Session26-27 S3 DTP & Men ACWY immunisations30 Start of S4/5/6 Prelim Exams

February1 S3 Reports issued9 Local Holiday10 Local Holiday13 Mid-term Holiday14 In-service Day15 In-Service Day17 End of S4/5/6 Prelim Exams

March1 S3 Parents’ Evening1 S3 MMR immunisations2 Head Teacher Drop-in Session6-10 House Week 38 S4/5/6 Reports issued9 S4/5/6 Parents’ evening13-17 Social Health Week14 S4/5/6 Parents’ evening23 S1 & 2 Girls HPV Immunisations29 Young Musician of the Year30 Head Teacher Drop-in Session31 End of Term

April17 Holiday18 Start of Term (Tuesday)19 P7 Parents’ Evening25 P7 Link project Half Day (am)27 Head Teacher Drop-in Session28 S4/5/6 Leavers’ Ceremony & Lunch

ABOYNE ACADEMYIMPORTANT DATES SESSION 2016-17

Aboyne AcademyContact Information

Aboyne AcademyBridgeview RoadAboyneAberdeenshireAB34 5JN

E-mail: aboyne.aca@aberdeenshire.gov.ukWeb: www.aboyneacademy.comTel: 013398 87722Fax: 013398 85020Twitter: @aboyneacad

Pupil absence hotline: 013398 85030(available 24 hours)

May1 May Day Holiday2 Start of SQA Exams17 S1 Reports issued23 P7 Link Project Day24-26 Activities S1-S325 Head Teacher Drop-in Session29-30 Prefect Interviews29-2 Mental Health Week30 Senior Ball

June1 Start of new Timetable S1/2/3 (new S2/3/4)2 Buddy Training S6 & Prefect Training S4/5/62 End of SQA Exams5 Start of new Timetable S4/5 (new S5/6)8 S1 & S2 Girls HPV Immunisations14 Awards Ceremony15-16 P7 Induction Days19-23 House Week 419-23 Highland Games Week20 An Evening of Drama21 Summer Concert30 End of Session