News from Lockerbie Academy - Thursday 11 December 2008

Maths Challenge

On the 20th November 2008 four S3 pupils from Lockerbie Academy attended the nationwide Maths Challenge Final at the University of Strathclyde’s Jordanhill campus in Glasgow. The pupils performed numerous team challenges from solving mathematical problems to more practical building problems. The team ended up finishing with a very respectful points total in mid table. All four of the pupils in attendance; Jonathan Davidson, Claire Dorrance, Elsa Leslie and Karen Pollard; all had a very enjoyable and meaningful experience.

S6 House Captains Launch “ Food for Homeless” Appeal

Christmas (which is nearly upon us!) is usually viewed as a time for family, fun and joy. However some people don’t have that luxury. This Christmas the House Captains are organizing an event for the charity ‘Help the Homeless’. The charity helps homeless people, mainly in Edinburgh to find accommodation and provides them with basic food. Our aim is for every pupil to donate an item of preserved food, such as sugar, pasta, tinned foods, coffee or tea. There are prizes for registration classes who collect the most items, and also house points on offer. Any help would be greatly appreciated by us the House Captains, those at ‘Help the Homeless’ and ultimately those who are homeless this Christmas. Thanks!

Jemma Dunlop (Kirtle) and Emily Jackson (Annan)

Sports News

Under-13 Football

Lockerbie Academy 7 v 3 Douglas Ewart
Scorers: Dean Smith (5), Luke Hammond, Sean Dunbar

An excellent game with Douglas Ewart proving to be very strong opposition with an outstanding goalkeeper. Lockerbie went behind three times but fought back well hitting the bar three times and creating many chances – which were either well saved or near misses.

In the last 30 minutes Lockerbie began to dominate the game and scored four excellent goals with many other efforts saved or missed.

Man of the Match: Levi Carrick
Team: Jordan McGinlay, Conor Graham, Robert McGowan, Danny Graham. Kieron McCrudden, Kyran Jackson, Luke Hammond, Levi Carrick, Dean Smith, Ed Booth, Sean Dunbar, subs Zak Caldwell, Ross Burgess, Lee Scott, Ryan Arthur, Kerr Hogg.

Under-18 Rugby Scottish Cup Bowl

Harris Academy 36 v Lockerbie Academy 30

Lockerbie started the game brightly nearly scoring from the kick-off, when Thomas McBride ran down the left wing to be stopped just short of the line. This set the scene for a highly entertaining game.

Harris scored two tries early on, however Lockerbie responded with one of their own. Just before half time Harris scored a converted try shortly followed by a try by Lockerbie leaving the half time score 17-10 to Harris. Harris then scored a converted try just after the restart. However Lockerbie responded excellently with three unanswer tries to take the lead (24 to 25)! This resulted in awakening Harris again who scored two more converted tries. It should be noted that during this period of the game Lockerbie had opportunities to score also. Just at the end of the game Lockerbie tied the try count (6 all). Ultimately Lockerbie’s failure to kick any conversions cost them the game. An excellent performance by both teams. Start players for Lockerbie were Thomas McBride and George Forrest.

Try scores – Iain Pringle -3 , Peter Johnstone -2, Adam Copeland – 1.

Table Tennis

Garry Wright excelled at the Scottish Schools Table Tennis Finals on Sunday 23rd November at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth and will now go forward to represent Scottish Schools at the International Championships being held in Blackburn, England from 3-5th April 2009. This is a great achievement and the school is very proud of Garry’s performance.

This week’s featured Sports Teams are the Senior Hockey Team who played in the recent Dr Turner’s tournament and the schools two Curling teams which are playing in the Scottish Schools play downs. Hannah Fleming’s team of Alice Spence, Kirsten McNay and Kimberley Smith are also playing in the Hay Trophy next week. The other team includes Stuart Hardie (skip), Jamie Nairn, Lisa Jardine and Samantha Howatson.

Emergency Closure Arrangements

At this time, it is pertinent to remind parents of these arrangements. If we need to send pupils home, the following points should be noted.

Parents should give clear instructions about the procedure to be followed if pupils are sent home unexpectedly. Pupils will not be sent home unless the school is aware that someone is at home to receive them or that alternative arrangements have been made. Parents should err on the side of caution when deciding whether to send pupils to school in bad weather. Pupils who are transported to school should be given firm advice about the length of time they should wait if transport does not arrive at the usual time.

Now that we have the’ Groupcall’ facility, all registered parents will receive a ‘Groupcall’ message should the school have to close due to severe weather problems etc.

The Council website (www.dumgal.gov.uk) and BBC Radio Scotland (94.7 FM) local bulletins (6.54am and 7.50am) usually give details of school closures.

Dates for the Diary