News from Lockerbie Academy - Thursday 28 August 2008

Higher Administration visit to Steven’s Croft

On 13th and 25th June two groups of Higher Administration students went to the Steven’s Croft Power Plant owned by the global company: E-on. They went to find out how the Steven’s Croft plant uses ICT in order to run the business. Pupils were taken into the conference room and watched a presentation detailing how ICT is used within the company. They learnt how electronic diaries are used to schedule meetings and help keep staff organized, they watched how video conferencing is used for visually communicating with people hundreds of miles away and they observed the on-line data management system to record and track appraisal interviews, holiday rotas, training records and much more. Pupils were also taken into an office to see how some of the Health and Safety legislation is implemented in the workplace. They were then taken into the control room to see how all the computers control and run the plant and watched how the click of a button could change vital pressures and open and close valves. Our time at Steven’s Croft was very insightful and enjoyed by all. We would like to thank Tony and Jim who gave up their time to educate us about the plant.

Site Visit on 13 June 2008	Site Visit on 25 June 2008

New Staff

A number of new staff have joined Lockerbie Academy as Newly Qualified Teachers and will take their probationer’s year at Lockerbie Academy for Session 2008-09.

The staff are Mr P Banks (Physics), Mr S Bell (Maths), Ms P Taylor (English), Miss L Wells (Home Economics) and Miss S Westhead (Biology). Mrs E Armstrong has joined the PE department as maternity cover, Mrs K McMeikan has joined the Support for Learning department and Ms Thomson is the new Home Link Worker again as maternity cover.

We wish all new staff well for Session 2008-09.

Regional Athletics – 1,429 days to the London Olympics

Hope Robertson of fifth year is our outstanding young athlete and will be representing Scotland at the UK School Games being held in Bath and Bristol from 28 August to 1 September. Hope took part in a recent international and ran two personal bests – 12.28 seconds for her 100 metres and 25.35 seconds for the 200 metres.

Before the summer holidays Hope joined other talented athletes at the school to participate in the Regional Athletics championships.

Overall the team of 15 pupils achieved four 1st place awards, four 2nd place awards and three 3rd place awards. The Regional Champions were:

Scott Cochrane S2 - Shott Putt and Regional Record
Danielle Beattie S1 - 800 metres and Regional Record
Cameron Robb S3 - 400 metres
Hope Robertson S4, S5, S6 - 100 metres and Regional Record

Other team members included Lee Dixon, Macaulay Ramsay, Joe Elliot, Daniel Nordon, Nathan McInally, Cameron Dunn, Jack Copeland, Jacqueline Pringle, Emma Jackson, Stephanie Sloan, Jessie Liddon, Heather McGregor and Alice Back.

Modern Languages Booklet Design Competition Winners 2008

The Modern Languages Faculty runs an annual competition to find the best design for the cover of the Basic Information Booklet which contains core vocabulary and language and is issued to every pupil who is studying a foreign language. The winning designs will, therefore, go into print. This year’s winners were

Kia Redford 1A, Rachel Nicholson 2A, Mairi MacPherson 2B, Kirsty Gordon 2C and Emma N Jackson 2C.

Our thanks to all entrants and our congratulations go to our winners.

French/German Competition Winners

The Annual Dossiers/Personalberichte Competition which is run by the Modern Languages Faculty has been judged and the winners have been chosen. Our thanks go to our judges, Mrs Matthews, Mrs Donnelly and Miss Flanigan. The Sandra Marshall Memorial Trophy goes to Anni Mellstrom-Williams 1/1FR. This trophy is awarded in memory of Sandra Marshall who gave years of dedicated service to the school. Sandra loved France and therefore it is fitting to remember her in this way. The best S1 German Folio Trophy goes to Christopher Gray 1/2GR. The standard of all entries was very high and we would like to thank everyone in S1 who made such a good effort.

School Bag Mail

Parents should have received the August Bulletin via school bag mail. If you do not receive a copy, please contact the school office.