Netball win!

Victory tasted sweet for our S1 netball team as they played St. Joseph’s Academy at home. Our team managed a full warm up and drill session before the game started due to the late arrival of the Kilmarnock team. This obviously helped us as within the first 2 minutes we had taken the lead. Jade Scott made scoring look easy as she quickly scored another goal. Our defence system of Claire Boyd and Lauren Shaw stopped several St. Joseph’s attacks but one net was put past our long armed defenders finishing the score line at half time 2-1. With motivation levels high as we started play, Sophie Dobbie took the score to 3-1. Our rivals then looked as though they had a second wind powering their score up 2. Not to be outdone, Raegan Heggie and Paige McMahon received the ball back to the attack enabling the score to be quickly taken to 5-2. St. Joseph’s made a last ditch attempt to win the match but even with another goal they were no match for the Doon girls who held the score at 5-3. Well done to Varri Murdoch for controlling play in her role as centre and to Lauren Shaw who walked away with Player of the Match for the second game in a row! Congratulation goes to all girls who played together as a winning team. Long may the victories continue!

Laser Station Xscape

The Doon Academy Activate Group recently visited the Laser Station at Xscape as part of a teambuilding activity. The group was split into 3 teams and given the scenario that they were in space and under attack from alien invasion. They had to work together to protect themselves and their team members from their opponents. The Activate programme is an employability programme in the school aimed at preparing young people for entering college, training or employment. Teambuilding is an integral part of the course and highlights to young people the importance of working together in the workplace.

Bridges4Europe

The ‘bridges4europe’ Comenius team are busy preparing activities for the final project meeting to be held at Doon Academy the 1st to 7th June.

Glasgow School of Art

Senior Art students attended the Glasgow School of Art fashion show. Beforehand, Jenny and Alex, two-second year textile students, showed them around the textile design studios. Our students were given the opportunity to see the techniques and equipment used in the studios. The fashion show was held in the afternoon and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their experience.

Home Economics

In Home Economics, Intermediate 1 students have finally finished their exams. The pupils ‘cooked up a storm’ and everyone will receive their grades in August. Well done to them all!

ASDAN

Congratulations to the S6 Asdan Group; Rosina Boyd, Craig Parker and David Johnstone who all passed their bronze award. During the year the group have been working together as a team on various activities throughout the school including a very successful coffee morning.

S3 Examx

Pupils in S3 have now finished their examinations and teachers are busy marking their papers. Many thanks to our invigilators for their assistance with the exams.

Earth Day

The 22nd April is Earth Day and the eco team have many earthy activities planned for the day. Watch this space for more news!

Merit winners trip

The top 10 merit winners for S1 and S2 boys had their reward day with the Outdoor Education Team. The boys had a great day taking part in some very demanding physical challenges. Robbie Uriarte said, “It was really good day and I learned how to abseil which was fantastic!” Congratulations to the boys!

Comic Relief

Doon Academy’s pupils and staff raised the fantastic sum of £400 for Comic Relief. There was a non-uniform day and a karaoke with some star performers. S2 pupil Jack Allsop gave us his award-winning rendition of the Scissor Sisters and Mrs. Cassidy and Mr. Gooding were outstanding with their version of Islands in the Sands. In addition, it would not be Comic Relief if we did not have the splits from our very own Britney Spears, Mrs McCormick. Well done to everyone who took part.

Cathy MacPhail

Pupils in S3 taking part in Literature Circles visited Kilmarnock Academy to see famous author Catherine MacPhail. The trip was arranged as part of the East Ayrshire Spring Read programme. Ms. MacPhail spoke to the pupils about her books and how she researches her ideas for the stories. Everyone enjoyed her talk and they also picked up ideas which would help them with their folio writing.

Netball

It was St. Matthew’s return game against our S1 netball team. We hoped the bus journey to Dalmellington would tire out the opposition but unfortunately St. Matthew’s got off to a flying start scoring a goal in the first minute. Our defence of Claire Boyd and Lauren Shaw were quick to stop this happening again and did a sterling job keeping many potential goals out the net. The St. Matthew’s crew scored again with one minute to go in the first half and frustration was evident in the eyes of Jade Scott and Sophie Dobbie who had little touch of the ball. With Hayley Mitchell replacing Jane Gallacher at half time the girls looked like they may have been on course to even up the game. Unfortunately, even with the great performances of Paige McMahon and Raegan Heggie, it was not to be and St. Matthew’s scored again in the second half. The final score was a very respectable 3-0. It is definite progress though, to when they first played this team back in October when they lost 9-1! Well done to Lauren Shaw who picked up Player of the Match for her outstanding defending skills.

Fitness challenges

In PE S1 to S3 pupils are taking part in fitness challenges to raise money for Scottish International Relief, Mary’s Meals project. This is to provide a daily meal for young people in Malawi. Well done to all the participants not only for improving their own health but for also improving the health of those in Africa.

Malawi Day

As part of the school’s involvement with Malawi S1 pupils spent last Thursday and Friday learning all about Malawi with Social Subjects and Science Departments. They had a day of lessons on Malawi and then on Friday investigated how people live and came up with ideas to help improve life for the Malawian people. The pupils will continue to work on their ideas in ICT and English, and then they will present their proposals to a school United Nations Committee. There will be a prize for the winning proposal.

BBC School News

S1 BBC reporters were delighted that former pupil and Women’s European Tour golfer, Pamela Feggans, was able to spare time to visit the school. Craig Mitchell, Lauren Shaw and Hayley Mitchell interviewed Pamela, for the BBC, about her career as a golfer and her experiences as a pupil at our school. Pamela brought along some of her trophies to show the reporters. The trophy she is most proud of is the All American College Trophy, which she won for being the top golfing student in America. Everyone at the school wishes Pamela the best of luck in the Women’s European Golf Tour that begins in May.

Campus Visit

Pupils in S6 undertaking the FOCUS West (GOALS) Top-Up programme had a very interesting and informative Campus Visit to the University of Glasgow. Pupils took part in seminars are various topics. School Captain Lyndsay McCreath said,” It was a great day and the seminar was really good”.

PE

In the PE department S1/2 pupils will be taking part in a badminton tournament. Also the swimming championship competition will be held on Friday 20th April.

No Smoking Day

During PSE pupils studied the effects of smoking as part of the ‘No Smoking Week’. Pupils designed posters to make others aware of the health issues associated with smoking.

Glasgow School of Art students

Glasgow School of Art students are still with us in school and pupils in art are thoroughly enjoying working on the new techniques they have been taught. There will be a visit to the GSA fashion show in Glasgow. More details in next week’s news!