Sport Aberdeen: Hazlehead Academy win School of the Year for sport for second year running! Hazlehead Academy have been awarded the Secondary School of the Year for Sport at the Sport Aberdeen Sports Awards evening at the Beach Ballroom. This is the second consecutive year that we have won this award and is credit to all the opportunities created for our pupils at Hazlehead by the staff and pupils at the school, Steven Thompson from Active Schools and numerous volunteers. A lot of work, time and effort has gone into providing these excellent opportunities for our pupils and we will continue to encourage our youngsters to get involved in as much as possible. There were record numbers of pupils involved in sport last year and also a huge increase in the number of pupil volunteers. We are all very proud of this achievement, well done to all!

Additionally, S6 pupil, Caitlin Davis, won the Sport Aberdeen Junior coach of the year category. Caitlin does a huge amount of volunteering in basketball for both the Academy and also Primary feeder schools and fully deserves the award. She has been involved in basketball since P5 at Kingsford primary and is now leading the coaching sessions at her old school to give something back. Well done Caitlin.

Lastly, it was a very successful night for Hazlehead area in general, with Hazlehead Primary winning the Primary School of the Year for Sport. The work being done there is truly fantastic and we are all very proud of the Hazlehead ASG.

Welcome to the first edition of our newly

designed online newsletter. The purpose of this

newsletter is to celebrate some of the many

successes of groups and individuals connected

with the school and also to provide you with

information relating to important future events

in the life of the school.

You will see just a snapshot of the many

individual and combined successes of many of

our students at Hazlehead Academy. We are

immensely proud of them and sure that you will

be too.

Mr M Jones, Acting Head Teacher

Contents Page 1 Page 3 Page 5

Sports School of the Year Competitive Schools Champions SFA Success

School Uniform Reminder Children in Need Prince’s Trust

Join the Parent Council Aberdeen Winter Festival

CYPS Awards Page 6

Page 2 Performing Arts News Young Scots

Gold for Hazlehead View from the Tee

Dandara 5K Page 4 New York 2015

Deasbad Nàiseanta Celebrating Student Success Go Bike!

Core Values Update FutureChef

Young Enterprise Eco Summit

Sports Leaders

Gothia Cup 2015

School Uniform Reminder: Hazlehead

Academy The School Uniform at Hazlehead Academy is commented upon by

parents, staff, students and visitors to the school as a very positive

aspect to school life. It allows students to demonstrate their pride

in belonging to the school and is a very important way for staff to

identify the difference between students and any visitor to the

school. With very few exceptions, students adhere to the school

uniform.

However, since the start of the academic session, there are a few

areas where habits outwith the uniform guidelines are starting to

appear. Please find a summary of these below and continue to

support the school by ensuring that students comply with the

options available:

No hooded / non school jumpers to be worn in classes.

White polo shirts to be worn underneath school jumpers.

Seniors to be wearing blazer and tie in school.

No hooded jumpers to be worn under the blazer by Seniors.

Black shoes or trainers only.

No leggings to be worn without an accompanying skirt.

1

Young Enterprise

The Cork Company

Established in 2015; we create innovative

high quality affordable products made from

100% recycled cork and various other

materials.

For more information-

Follow our twitter @thecorkcompany

Email us- thecorkcompanyhh@gmail.com

Young Enterprise

Glassic Designs

We are a young enterprise company run by

8 hard working lads.

We up cycle old jam jars into sleek and

stylish candle holders fit for all seasons and

personalities! Can be made to order, email

us or drop us a message on our social

media!

Twitter - @GlassicDesigns

Facebook - Glassic Designs

Email - Glassicsdesginsye@gmail.com

Friends of Hazlehead

Dandara 5K - 31.10.15 The ‘Friends of Hazlehead’ organised a

series of races for Primary & Secondary

pupils as well as adults around the

Hazlehead Park grounds on Saturday 31st

October. Numerous pupils (including some

dressed up for Halloween) and staff

participated or helped out with the

organisation of the event, aimed specifically

for our community, raising funds for park

improvements.

Notably Kirsty & Caitlin Purcell and Calvin

Ramsay (S1) performed exceptionally well

in their respective races. Mrs Silver and Mrs

Benvie also completed the 5K event despite

very slippery underfoot conditions.

Numerous sports leaders helped make the

day a success by marshalling and handing

out medals to the finishers. Well done to all

for a great community effort.

Hazlehead Academy win

GOLD! Hazlehead Academy is very proud to have

been presented with the Gold award from

Alan Clark from Sport Scotland. We are

the only school in Aberdeen City to achieve

this award and it’s a nice reward to get for

all the time, effort and opportunities

available to our pupils both in the

curriculum and outwith. The expansion of

this over the last couple of years has only

been achieved through the hard work of

staff at the school, volunteering in huge

numbers and our pupils who constantly

apply themselves in a variety of settings.

Well done to all.

Deasbad Nàiseanta,

Steòrnabhagh Hazlehead Academy Gaelic students Bethan

Dale 5G and Iona MacDonald 6C took part

in the National Gaelic Schools Debating

Competition in Stornoway in October.

The competition included 20 teams from

18 schools from across Scotland and was

hotly contested. Bethan and Iona took on

Gairloch High School in round 1 and

argued that ‘Style was not more important the

substance today,’ and then in round 2 gave

an excellent display against Dunoon

Grammar School arguing that ‘Today’s

generation is the luckiest to have ever lived, in

Britain.’

Whilst Iona has represented Hazlehead

Academy at this competition before, this

was Bethan’s first outing. Both pupils gave

an excellent account of themselves and

have most definitely helped put Hazlehead

Academy onto the Gaelic Map!

Core Values Thank you to all those parents, staff and

students who have been involved in

participating in workshops and completing

the online surveys. Thanks also to the

Senior Prefect Team for their work in

helping to guide the process. We should be

ready to communicate with parents, staff

and students about the new Core Values in

January 2016. Watch this space!

2

Competitive Schools

Sports Champions 2015 Hazlehead Academy welcomed Graeme

Dale (Active Schools Manager) to the

school today to officially receive the

Competitive School Sport Championship

trophy. Well done to all the pupils who

competed magnificently over the season to

result in Hazlehead winning the first ever

championship. Also, a big thanks to all the

staff who were involved in offering the

numerous opportunities of extra-curricular

clubs to our pupils at Hazlehead. The

competitive schools championships involves

all schools in Aberdeen competing in a

variety of sporting activities with points

awarded for performance in each of the

activities.

Aberdeen's Christmas

Village & Winter Festival New for 2015! Aberdeen City Council are

working with Aberdeen Inspired to bring a

brand new Christmas Village to Union

Terrace which includes an open-air ice

rink, German market, fairground rides,

refreshments and entertainment. Open 7

days a week, the village will take over the

whole length of Union Terrace from 26

November - 3 January. Popular winter

festival events such as the Christmas Tree

Switch-On, Christmas Lights Switch-On,

Carol Concert, St Andrew's Day

Ceilidh and Nativity Scene also return to

the city. For full details visit

www.aberdeenchristmas.co.uk

Faculty of Performing Arts

News! It has been another busy term in the

Performing Arts faculty.

The Choir has performed at the PTA

Christmas Fair and were also singing at

Dobbies for Santa’s Arrival. The Choir and

the Orchestra are now preparing for their

final concert of 2015, this year’s Christmas

Service which takes place at Sheddocksley

Baptist Church on Thursday 17th

December.

A small Performance Group will be singing

and playing a mini concert at Craigiebuckler

Church on Wednesday 2nd December to

keep the pensioners entertained at their

Christmas party. This is the third time that

they have been invited to do this so they

are obviously keeping them well entertained

with their selections of Christmas music!

Our S3 drama classes are currently in

rehearsals for this year’s Christmas

Production of “Scrooge”. They are

working very hard to learn lines and finish

blocking the play in time for the

performances. Pupils from the S5/6

Creative Industries project have also been

working hard behind the scenes to paint

scenery, source props and costumes,

compose original music and publicise the

show. Performances will take place on

Wednesday 9th December at 1pm where

some primary pupils from our ASG will be

in the audience, Wednesday at 7pm and

then on Thursday 8th December at 3pm and

7pm.

S2 drama classes have begun work on their

“Panto Challenge” task where they work in

groups to put on a pantomime from scratch

in just a couple of weeks! On the morning

of Wednesday 16th December they will

present their work and a winner will be

decided by a special guest judge- one of the

cast members from this year’s HMT

pantomime. All S2 drama pupils will be

rewarded for their hard work by a trip to

see the HMT production of “Peter Pan”

that afternoon where they will be able to

compare their work with the professionals!

Children in Need The pupils and staff of Hazlehead Academy

proved they are very responsible citizens by

raising £726 for Children In Need. This was

collected through donations made to take

part in a non-uniform day

Collections also took place for

Remembrance Day and World AIDS Day

(no figures as yet)

Global Citizenship group supporting

Befriend a Child with a shoebox appeal.

3

The Children & Young

People’s Services Awards

2015 Hazlehead Academy’s Faculty of English

and Literacy were presented with the

Raising Achievement Award at

Aberdeen City Council’s Children and

Young People’s Services Awards ceremony

which took place at the Beach Ballroom in

October. A number of staff members have

been participating in a Literacy Lunch

initiative which encourages active learning

activities designed to promote and develop

literacy skills across the school. The

nomination follows our success at Scottish

Education Awards which were held in

Glasgow in June in which Literacy was at

the forefront.

Finally, we would like to congratulate

Hazlehead Primary School for winning

both the Global Citizenship award and

the Working in the Community

Award. Hazlehead Academy was also

nominated for the Business Links Award

but sadly did not win this time around. We

are very proud that the hard work and

successes of both the staff and pupils across

the Hazlehead ASG has been recognised.

Celebrating Student

Success! Congratulations to Samiksha Viju 2GA

who has been picked to work with other

young people from across Scotland to help

the Scottish Government with the planning

for 2018. She is one of 18 pupils who have

been picked from across Scotland.

Congratulations to Katie Knowles 6C

who recently took part in the Scottish

Schools Individual Fencing Championships.

Approximately 200 pupils from over 40

different schools took part in the Olympic

sport of Fencing. The competitors fenced

using the Sabre, Epee and Foil in three

different age categories (Under 14, Under

16 and Over 16). Katie did exceptionally

well and won the silver award in the Epee

competition in the Over 16 event.

Congratulations to Cai Matthew 3GA,

Shaun Spence 3GA and Kai Morrison

3GA who have been selected for the U15

Aberdeen City Select Team and will

represent Aberdeen in the National Trophy

competition.

Congratulations to Matin Hoorijani 5D

who recently competed in Motherwell at

the Scottish Novice Boxing Championships.

He did exceptionally well to win the silver

medal and only narrowly missed out on the

Gold medal.

Congratulations to Archie Mair 3GA who

was called up on Tuesday 10th Nov to the

AFC 20s squad for one match. Although he

wasn’t played during the game, this is a

great achievement for Archie and

recognition by the AFC of his ability at 14

years of age. He was called up for the same

squad again in late November…. Well done

Archie.

Congratulations to Caitlin Davis 6CA

who recently addressed a large audience at

a National Event for Sports Scotland,

speaking with confidence and passion about

the projects she has been involved in at

Primary and Secondary Schools over the

years.

Congratulations to Molly Hay 6C who will

travel to Tianjin in September 2016 to take

up a year’s scholarship to learn Mandarin.

Alysha Herd 5G was the winner of the

lovely P.T.A. Hamper this year. Thank you

to all who bought raffle tickets.

4

FutureChef Competition 6 pupils took part in this competition on

Tuesday 3rd November. As part of this

competition they had to make a main meal

dish for two people for £5. Former pupil

and Malmaison Apprentice Chef, Ross

Maxwell, came in to judge the

competition. He felt that the standard of

cooking was excellent this year and each

contestant showed a good level of skill in

the dishes they made. However, there

could only be one winner. Third year pupil

Jasmine McDonald did very well to win the

competition with her pesto herb crusted

cod dish. She will now go on to compete in

the local final against other schools in

Aberdeen on the 18th January 2016. Well

done Jasmine!

A picture of her winning dish is shown

above.

Eco Summit Our Eco Group hosted representatives

from the local primary Eco Groups on

Thursday 12th November in the LRC. Each

group presented a recent initiative that

went well for them and the other groups

gave feedback/suggested improvements.

We shared our Eco Codes and Action Plans

and plan to host another such event next

session.

Sports Leaders Students involved in the Sports Leaders

Course have been on a 6 week block

teaching and leading youngsters in Sport.

This term they have been at Fernielea and

Kingsford Schools every Friday afternoon:-

leading Basketball, Fitness and Potted

Sports to Primary 2’s.

Analysing lessons and completing self-

evaluation.

These Sports Leaders have had a fantastic

response from the pupils and excitement is

evident each week. In addition, many have

overcome personal challenges and

confidence issues to be able to stand up and

lead.

They move onto Hazlehead and Airyhall

Schools after Christmas.

Gothia Cup 2015 Pupils from the school attended the Gothia

Cup tournament in Sweden in July this year.

The team competed against teams from

Sweden, America, Mexico and Bulgaria.

They successfully made it through their

group unbeaten before being knocked out

by AS Mexico on penalties. The trip was a

great experience for all the boys involved:

Archie Mair, Harrison Sharp, Paul Mackintosh,

Nathan Rankine, Joe Sutherland, Josh Christie,

Sebastian Ross, Terry Taylor, Ethan Smith, Cai

Matthew, Kai Morrison, Shaun Spence, Alex

Quantrill, Jack Chesser, Ethan Ross, Connor

Barron.

Performance School Newsletter

Information December 2015

2002 Regional Squad

The SFA currently have 7 Regional squads

across Scotland where the best players in

each region are selected to attend 8

training sessions over the year. The final

session for this took place at the end of

November. In previous years players from

these squads are then selected to attend

National trials. The following S2 players

were part of this years. Regional Squad

sessions:

Callan Gray, Calum Brown, Danny Strachan,

Tyler Alexander, Max Barry, Connor Barron,

Kieran Shanks, Isaac Mclean & Lewis Youngson.

2001 National Trials – March 2015

Six players from the current S3 group were

selected from last year’s SFA North

Regional Squad to attend National trials

earlier this year. These were:

Dean Campbell, Ethan Ross, Terry Taylor, Archie

Mair, Nathan Meres & Jack Chesser.

National Training Camps

As part of the pathway to National Youth

Squads the SFA select players from across

Scotland to attend training camps. The

following players have been selected to

attend these camps over the last year:

S3 - Dean Campbell, Ethan Ross, Terry Taylor,

Archie Mair

S4 - Zack Ellis, Sebastian Ross, Georgia Carter.

5 International Matches

International matches are organised for the

National Youth Squads to provide the

Countries best players with the opportunity

to play against the best players from other

Countries. Over the last year this has

involved home matches against Germany,

Switzerland and Poland, and also away

matches as far as Ireland, Holland and

Qatar to name a few. This experience has

been invaluable for the players involved.

The following players have represented the

School at some of these matches:

S3 - Dean Campbell, Terry Taylor, Ethan Ross

S4 - Sebastian Ross, Georgia Carter.

2015 U16 Victory Shield Tournament

Seb Ross became the first Hazlehead

Performance School player to represent

Scotland at National Competition level

when he was selected to be part of the U16

Victory Shield squad in October this year.

The squad travelled to Wales to play

matches against Republic of Ireland,

Northern Ireland and Wales. This was a

great culmination in a very successful year

for Seb in which he was also chosen as the

Player of the Tour in a Tri-series of

matches in Qatar back in February.

U15 School Select

Kai Morrison, Cai Matthew and Shaun

Spence were selected to be part of the

Aberdeen City U15 Select squad. The

players were successful in helping the team

reach the knock out stage of the

competition which is due to be played

soon.

Georgia Carter

S4 Georgia Carter was selected for the

National Clubs For Young People Scotland

(CYP) to attend Ireland to take part in a

tournament against the other home nations.

This is the 2nd year in a row that Georgia

has been selected for this and she also had

to complete some fundraising to raise funds

for the trip.

Senior Team Selections

Due to their performances the following

players have had the opportunity to play at

Adult Reserve/ U20 football within their

Clubs:

Archie Mair (S3) – Aberdeen FC U20

Sebastian Ross, David Dangana (S4) – Aberdeen

FC U20

Georgia Carter (S4) – Aberdeen ladies Reserves

Ethan Grant (S4) – Ross County FC U20

Prince’s Trust The Prince’s Trust will be 40 in 2016! ‘It all

began in 1976, when HRH The Prince of

Wales had a bold idea. Having completed

his duty in the Royal Navy, His Royal

Highness became dedicated to improving

the lives of disadvantaged young people in

the UK. He founded His Trust to deliver on

that commitment’. (www.princes-

trust.org.uk)

In the 1990’s new initiatives were launched.

Prince’s Trust XL clubs were one of these

initiatives with the aim to motivate 15 and

16 year-olds and keep them at school. Due

to its success across Britain the XL club

programme has moved on to become an

SQA accredited course offered to pupils in

school from S3 to S6. The course can be

adapted to suit the group’s needs and as a

result awards certificates and awards at

SCQF level 3, 4 and 5. The certificates are

equivalent to Nationals 3, 4, and 5.

Hazlehead Academy is excited to be part of

this respected organisation. In September

this year the school’s first Prince’s Trust xl

club was formed. Nine S3 pupils are

currently working towards a SCQF Level 3

Award.

The XL Club was asked to run a stall at the

PTA Christmas Fair and the group took on

the challenge. They researched, planned,

purchased, made the products they decided

to sell, created a professionally printed label

and packaging. On the night they presented

a stall crammed full with products of a very

high standard. They made candles, golden

golf ball baubles, reindeer tablet and Mars

Bar Krispies. We sold everything and made

a profit! Three of the pupils deserve a

mention, Jade Wright, Caitlin

Donaldson and Gary Anderson for

turning up on the night, manning the stall

and selling all our products.

Thanks to all of the staff for their hard

work in supporting the group.

Young Scots for School

Sam Viju, 2GA

I am involved in organising the Year of

Young Scots in 2018. I am a member of the

Interim Planning Group (IPG). This year is

the Year of Food and Drink. The

government decided there should be a year

to personally celebrate Young People and

do what they suggest to do to make

Scotland a better place in their standards.

This is where I come in. I heard about the

opportunity to become a member of the

IPG last year around June. I applied to be

one of 18 young people in Scotland and

luckily I got selected. Our group has had

many meetings all over Scotland to discuss

the happenings for 2018. Having spoken to

the Government only a couple of days back,

we wait as they analyse our preparations

and decisions. If the Government are happy

– we go on preparing the year until 2018.

I’m sure, every year new members get

chosen therefore if you are one who is

interested I assure you to just go for it as it

will be (it is) a great experience for you to

take part in.

6 A View from the Tee

Monday: Round 2 took place on Alcaidesa

Heathland. Scored 78(+6). First time played

this course also, therefore lacked course

knowledge but had a good back nine of +1.

Tuesday: Round 3 was again on Alcaidesa

Heathland . Scored 82.(+10). Today, again

hit ball well but struggled with putting on

greens with them getting very fast.

Yesterday’s +6 was used towards total.

Wednesday: Round 4 was the final round at

Alcaidesa, played on Alcaidesa Links again.

Scored 78(+6). Was happy as I improved on

Round 1 score. Still struggled with greens

and didn’t hole putts that I would have liked

to.

Even though having a battle with the greens

all week, I managed to make the cut for the

final round which meant I got to play at

Finca Cortesin which has hosted several

professional tournaments like the Volvo

World Matchplay in previous years. The

two scores used were 78 and 78 to make

the cut.

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Today I scored 82(+10) on Finca

Cortesin. The course was amazing and very

challenging, but I think the week was

catching up with everyone after already

playing 4 round in the sun!

That night there was a dinner and prize

presentation where everyone got a trophy

for winning and qualifying for the finals

week before going home on Saturday.

Summary

Overall, I found the week to be a great

experience, with it being my first

competition abroad and away from

national events. It is amazing to be able to

compete on courses in such great condition

in 20 degree heat in December! I felt happy

with how I played but what really struck me

was how fast and tricky the greens were,

which we don’t experience back home due

to our climate. With this in mind, I

realised that it was a great

achievement to make the cut and

finish T30 out of 105 boys from

Europe, without having any practise in

those conditions beforehand.

New York 2015 On Thursday 8th October 2015, 48 students

and 6 members of staff embarked on a visit

to New York, taking in Broadway Shows,

participating in a drama workshop and

taking in the sights of the Big Apple. Here

are just a few photographs from the trip..

A View from the Tee

Craig Leith, 6D

I won a qualifying round at Newburgh Golf

Club back in August with a score of 72(level

par). The prize for this was entry and four

free rounds (5 if make cut) at the

European Junior Open Final in Costa

Del Sol Spain.

The format was 4 rounds of strokeplay

between two courses in which your best

round on each course would be added

together as a total, If you then made it to

the final round, your score in that round

would be added on to your previous total

of the two courses.

Saturday: Arrived in Spain with family and

drove to apartments where all golfers were

staying at the Valle Romano Resort near

Estepona.

Sunday: Round 1 took place on Alcaidesa

Links. Scored 81 (+9). I found course great

but very different to those back home. Was

challenging to adjust straight away to

different type of grass and greens but

striking ball well.

Go Bike! Congratulations to the following students

who completed a bike awareness and

maintenance course this term:-

Reece Milne (L2)

Lewis Millar (L1)

Nathan Mendez (L1)

Austin Beveridge (L1)

Gary Anderson (L1)