St Machar Academy News

Our partnerships with Industry are very important to us and our colleagues from industry continue to do excellent work with our pupils. The following sessions will be taking place this term.

KCA Deutag Preparation for Work Sessions

Staff from the  Human Resources Department of the international drilling company, KCA Deutag , are coming to school every Thursday until the Easter break to run workshops for our S 4 pupils. They will cover CVs, letters of application and offer mock interviews with appropriate feedback.

School Careers Industry Partnership (SCIP) Workshop

For the third year running, on Friday 10th February 2012, the school will host a SCIP workshop in conjuction with Enermech and Coaching  Training Consultancy Limited (CTC).  The day consists of the pupils taking part in a psychometric testing exercise called ‘ The Buzz ‘ to see what their main skills and qualities are and then some in depth interview skills’ workshops and general information sessions on health and safety in the workplace amongst other areas.  The participants are then given the opportunity to make a site visit to Enermech’s Aberdeen premises to see a real working environment in action.

Modern Apprenticeships and Employment Skills Workshops with Aberdeen Asset Management.

An exciting new opportunity has come our senior pupils way this session with a new link being offered to us from Aberdeen Asset Management.  This local finance company has approached us to offer S5/6 pupils the chance to engage with the company over the next few months with a view to offering one or more Modern Apprenticeships to interested pupils.  Pupils will be offered two weeks’ work experience with the company.

The company is also offering Employment Skills Workshops to all our S 5/6 pupils.

On January 24th/25th staff from Live n Learn will deliver workshops to S 4 pupils to help them with their upcoming Standard Grade exams.  Pupils in the past have found the workshops both useful and thought provoking.

The workshops form part of our S 4 Challenge which has seen class teachers and members of the Senior Management Team work with pupils on a regular basis to make sure pupils push themselves to attain the grades of which we think they are capable.

St Machar Academy Parent Council will meet at 7 o’ clock in the staffroom on Wednesday January 18th.  All parents are welcome to attend.

Thank you to all the parents who came to last Wednesday’s Information Evening on S2/3 Option Choices.  Given that S 2 pupils are the first who will sit ‘ Curriculum for Excellence ‘ exams we appreciate being able to explain what is involved to so many parents.

The Consultation from 4.30 – 6.30 tonight with your son/daughters’ teachers will give you further help to decide the option choices which will be followed in S 3.

Ms McIntyre and staff wish all our pupils and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We look forward to welcoming pupils back on Monday 9th of January 2012.   Pupils must, as always, be dressed in full school uniform.

A group of 13 pupils is currently at Cromdale Outdoor Centre for our St Machar Leadership Academy.  They are accommpanied by Mrs Duncan, Depute Head, Miss Cadger, History Department, Mr Sedgwick of Adventure Aberdeen and Mrs Innes a former member of staff.

SCHOLAR is one of the world’s largest school e-learning education programmes, with over 100,000 users in more than 400 schools and colleges in Scotland.  Created by Heriot-Watt University  SCHOLAR provides computer-based learning materials to support teaching and learning in Maths, Sciences, Languages and Business subjects.More information can be found by following this link:

SCHOLAR Leaflet for Parents

Monday November 14th is an In-Service day.

S4 Prelims begin on Wednesday November 23rd.

Pupils are on holiday from Monday October 10th until Friday October 21st.  School resumes at the normal time on Monday October 24th.  We would like to wish everyone a good break.

Mr Jamieson, Ms Wilson and Mr Purdie will be returning to Cultura High School, South Africa from Saturday October 15th until October 29th to continue the work developing Physical Education programmes for the school.  This is part of the International Inspirations Programme which is linked with London 2012.