Classchat Spotlight: Greenwood Academy

Every week we feature news and information from primary and secondary schools in the Irvine Times.

Here's a segment from Greenwood Academy.

REMEMBRANCE DAY Greenwood Academy Art and Design department acknowledge Remembrance day with a group of five S1 pupils; Erin Callaghan, Emma Cook, Connor Crombie, David Gilmour and Jessica Reid who worked alongside Art and Design teacher Miss McCormack.

The students worked on an extra curricular project to create a dress made out of paper, poppies (kindly donated by Poppy Scotland), beads and straws. The group of Greenwood Academy students used their own extra-curricular time to help create this show-stopping piece. This outstanding and detailed dress was to acknowledge Remembrance Day through a creative project which could be shown off through the realm of fashion. The project specifically wanted to use materials which were found, reusable, recyclable, and cheap or obtained. This exquisite piece could be seen on the catwalks and is an excellent effort from the five students involved. This is a great example by local students showing off the hand crafted dress with Remembrance Day as their main inspiration.

VISIT TO EDINBURGH ZOO On last Monday, a group of nine S3 / S4 pupils visited Edinburgh Zoo as part of the National 2 Science in the Environment “Living Things” course unit, the highlight of the trip was to be a 12noon viewing appointment with the Pandas.

The pupils arrived just after 10.30am and planned the route around the Zoo which, with some interesting map reading skills on show, they managed to stick to. At 12noon the Panda viewing arrived and although only Mrs Panda was on show, and although Mr Panda was poorly at that moment it was well worth the wait. Other favourite animals chosen by pupils were the penguins, flamingos and monkeys. The pupils were a credit to themselves and the school throughout the day and thoroughly enjoyed their trip. The pupils not only were able to see and learn about a range of animals they would otherwise not be able to enjoy, the pupils displayed great teamwork and cooperation in supporting each other.

LITTER PICK DC World would like to thank the school for all the generous donations for their charity litter pick in aid of SSPCA and Shelter Scotland.  The group has raised approximately £50 for each charity and hope to raise more.

CYCLE MAINTENANCE COURSE Four pupils from the DC groups: Kyle Bennie, Jamie-Scott McNeil, Billy Banaghan and Liam Walker 4G2 are attending a three day course Cycle Maintenance Course in November. The pupils have been given the chance to learn all about bikes and bike maintenance, which will lead to a qualification, and onwards to a career in Mechanics. Cycleform offered this chance to the pupils. The pupils are aiming towards their Red, White and Blue awards. The pupils were accompanied by Mr Mousley last Wednesday and will attend again on 20th and 27th November. SENIOR PRIZEGIVING There are still a number of pupils who have not collected their trophy after being engraved. Parents / carers should advice their child to collect their trophy from the Finance Office.

MOVEMBER Pupils and staff may have noticed some of the male members of staff with additional facial hair on show. This is not because they are auditioning for ‘The Village People’! No, they are participating in Movember. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. To support the cause you can donate to one of the Gouchos directly. Thanks in advance for your support. We currently have 10 members of staff and 3 pupils taking part this year.

VACCINATION FORMS Pupils in S3 were issued with consent forms for the Diptheria, Polio and Tetanus vaccination last week. These forms should be returned to the school as soon as possible. The vaccinations will take place on 12th 13th and 15th February 2014. SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR The S2 Enterprise group will be promoting the Scholastic Book Fair at the Christmas Fayre this year on 29 November 2013 from 3.30 pm until 6.30 pm. Books can be perused and perhaps a Christmas present for someone you know or even a gift to yourself. We look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Fayre.

ECO COMMITTEE CLASS CHAT For the last few weeks the members of the Eco-Committee, who meet in Mr Knox’s room on a Tuesday, have been preparing items for sale at the Eco-Committee stall at the school Christmas Fayre. We have decided to concentrate on several different items with an eco-theme.

The first items are made from crisp packets (yes, crisp packets which we have collected from around the school). We have collected several hundred crisp packets, and then shrunk them down into miniature crisp packets in the oven. With these miniature crisp packets, we have then made them into key rings and ‘Crispmas’ decorations for the house (using lots of glitter, paint and glue). The second items which we are concentrating on in our stall are gift bags, made from recycled newspaper. We did try to make our own – after research from several internet sites – however this had various successes. Then we heard of a charity which purchases these recycled newspaper gift bags, made by homeless street children in Developing Countries (eg India and Peru). Therefore all the bags sold will benefit not only the charity, but also school funds.

Lastly, we will also be selling re-usable cotton bags – with a motto designed by one of our pupils. This helps to not only reduce the amount of carrier bags in the environment, but also adding to school funds.

We hope to see as many visitors to our stall at the Greenwood Academy Christmas Fayre, where you can do your bit to help the environment, and also purchase that slightly more unusual Christmas stocking filler gift.

CAKE SALE Thank you and congratulations to Lauren, Amy and Cameryn of class 2M2 for organising a cake sale in aid of Children in Need.  With the staff and pupils help they raised £50 for the charity.