Christmas concert

The annual Christmas Concert, held in the school hall which was packed with parents and other members of the local community, was a tremendous success with superb performances from our pupils. The school band, conducted by Gary Paterson, delighted the audience with traditional Christmas carols. Nicky Fairbairn in S2 sang two sensational solos. There were energetic extracts from Chicago, High School Musical, Oliver, Sleeping Beauty and South Pacific performed with panache by S1, S3 and S4 pupils. The clarinet duet of Claire Boyd and Annabel McTaggart charmed the crowds with their Winter Wonderland and our ‘Oasis’ tribute band performed their winning song from the talent show ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. Thank you to Mrs Rae, Principal Teacher of Music, music instructors Mr. Paterson, Mrs. Lee and Mr. O’Sullivan for their expertise and congratulations to everyone who helped and took part in this excellent event.

Panto stars

A group of S1 pupils were involved with the FiB Company in a production of Sleeping Beauty at Elmbank Theatre, Ayr. The pupils performed for Dalmellington P7s and Doon Academy’s S1 pupils and also gave an evening performance for parents and visitors. All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed their theatrical experience and the pantomime was a sensation.

Geography trip to Patna

S4 Geography pupils, accompanied by Mrs. Elder, recently visited the BDF factory in Patna as part of their Standard Grade course. Pupils received a tour of the factory which manufactures single use surgical drapes for the NHS and a range of other companies. They then had the opportunity to interview the Production Manager, Andy Nightingale who provided an insight into the day to day operations. We would like to thank Andy and the rest of the staff at BDF for accommodating our visit.

School closure

Doon Academy was forced to close on Monday 13th December due to problems with our heating system. Pupils left the school at 10.45am but engineers were able to fix the problem and everyone was able to return as normal on the Tuesday.

Gingerbread Chef

Hospitality pupils were delighted that John Fowler the Head Chef of the Horizon Hotel in Ayr visited the school to teach them the art of preparing a gingerbread house. John held a competition and the winner with the best made house was S6 pupil Gordon Copeland. Congratulation to Gordon and thank you to John for his continued support for the school.

Burns Competition Winners

Congratulations to Josh Black who was runner-up and Kirsty McCormick who was the winner in the S1/2 Burns Verse Speaking Competition. They will both represent the school in the Ayrshire Schools Burns Competition and at the school’s Burns Supper to be held on Thursday 10th February 2010. Thank you to our Burns judges Mrs. Jean Kerr from Alloway Burns Club, Dr Tom Morrall from Ayr Burns Club and S3 pupil Raegan Heggie last year’s winner. All the finalists in the competition will be visiting the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in February to support their studies of the life and works of Burns.

Coffee Morning

The Supported Learning Centre held a Community Coffee Morning which was very well attended by parents who were generous in their support. There were home baking goods, crafts and gifts made by the pupils, ginger wine, quiz sheets, bingo and a raffle. The event raised the magnificent sum of £380. All SLC pupils had a specific task for the morning which they carried out admirably and a thank you to them all, from SLC staff, for their support. This was an excellent example of pupil learning through all four capacities of a Curriculum for Excellence.

P E Pupils of the month

In P.E the Pupils of the Month for November are Morgan Davis and Josh Taylor. Well done to both of them for all their hard work and excellent participation in health and well-being activities.

Christmas lunch

The school Christmas Lunch will be served on Thursday 16th December in the dining hall. Rena Riggins and her team are busy preparing a wonderful feast for pupils and staff.

Peer Education

12 S3 pupils will be participating in a Peer Education Programme from January to March. The pupils will prepare a presentation of their choice based on a relevant community issue such as vandalism or binge drinking. When completed they will deliver their presentation to all primary and secondary schools in East Ayrshire. It is hoped the pupils will gain confidence and self esteem from their involvement with the programme. A bronze community award will be presented to all pupils who complete the project.

Carers Christmas Lunch

Zoe Ritchie, Amie Donnelly, Dara Murphy and Leigh Brown from the Asdan Employability Group, who are currently on work experience at Dalmellington House, have been selected to help at the Dalmellington Carers Christmas Lunch Well done girls!

Art Exhibition opening

The official opening of our annual Art Exhibition is on Thursday 16th December at 6.30pm at the Doon Valley Museum in Dalmellington. Pupils and staff artwork will be on view from Thursday 9th December. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Readers' Cup Quiz

The first round of the annual Readers’ Cup Quiz will be held, in school, for S1 and S2 in the week leading up to Christmas. There will be prizes for the winning pupils in each class. The quiz is a fun event aimed at encouraging pupils to read. The winners from the Doon Academy heats will go on to the East Ayrshire final.

Burns Competition

The final of the S1/2 Burns Verse Speaking Competition will take place in school on Wednesday 15th December. The judges for the event are Mrs Skilling from Alloway Burns Club, Dr. Tom Morrall from Ayr Burns Club and last year’s winner Raegan Heggie. The winner and runner up will be reciting their poems at our annual Burns Supper to be held on Thursday 10th February 2011.

Christmas Service

Doon Academy’s Christmas Church Service will be held in Dalmellington Church on Monday 20th December. There will be readings by pupils and music from the band.

Netball

On Tuesday 30th November, Doon Academy made the trip to Cumnock across the snow capped hills. Fifteen girls were there to take part in a mixed year group tournament. Five games were played with teams that were made up from 1st to 6th year. Our first year’s experienced their first netball games and all did extremely well. The first game ended in a tight 2-1 loss to Doon. The second game saw an inexperienced Doon team take on an older Cumnock team and lose 3-0. An excellent score line for our first time players. The third game allowed Doon to gain a draw and the following 2 games saw two very close score lines. Doon 1 came 2nd in the tournament with Doon 2 taking 4th place. Well done to all girls taking part in the friendly tournament, in particular Varri Murdoch and Connie Hose who received Players of the Tournament. Special mention to Savannah McMahon, Carla Strachan, Charelle Boyce, Sarah Murdoch, Nicole Millar and Robyn Mitchell who played for Doon Academy for the first time.

SLC Boccia Competition

The Supported Learning Centre pupils had a busy week when they all took part in a Boccia Competition, swimming gala and a visit to Sorn Estate learning about willow coppicing and willow crafts. In the Boccia, Conar Currie received a gold medal and Derrick Dews a bronze medal. Robbie Drynan, Robbie Jones, Conar Currie, Martin McCreath, Derrick Dews, Ryan Cranford, Josh Zakaszewski, Paul Andresen, Connar McKinley, Shannon Renwick and Kieran Scott all received medals in the swimming gala.

BBC School News reporters interviewed

BBC School News Reporters Danni Cullen, Aaron Gilmore, Shania Brown, Elleis Peters and Gareth Kerr were interviewed on the radio by BBC producers in London about their school news report on First Click. The reporters are now inspired to do more reporting with Elleis keen to do a behind-the-scenes report on the Christmas concert and Shania writing to some famous authors for an interview.

Christmas Concert

Doon Academy’s Christmas Concert will be held in the school hall on Thursday 9th December 7pm – 9.30pm. Tickets are priced at £3.00 for adults, £1.50 for children and are available from the school office or Ms. McClue in the Maths department. The evening promises to be a splendid occasion with music, singing, dancing, Christmas raffle and a pantomime. Donations for the raffle may be handed into the school office.

Art Exhibition

The official opening of our annual Art Exhibition is on Thursday 16th December at 6.30pm at the Doon Valley Museum in Dalmellington. Pupils and staff artwork will be on view from Thursday 9th December. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Accelerated Reader

The Accelerated Reader programme for S1/2 encourages pupils to read books and then to take a quiz to gain points. Every month there is a prize winner. Mrs Bax the librarian has added new books which should interest all pupils.

Kilmarnock's Hospitality

Mr Kelly and Mrs Gillespie visited the hospitality department at Kilmarnock College to gain an insight into the courses and opportunities available to our school leavers.

Leadership Course

The new S5/6 SQA Leadership Course is progressing well and pupils are undertaking various leadership activities in the school and community. Nathan Allison organised a pool competition at the Zone and Fraser Cameron had a ‘Beat the Goalie’ competition for S2 pupils in the school.

Leadership Course

The new S5/6 SQA Leadership Course is progressing well and pupils are undertaking various leadership activities in the school and community. Nathan Allison organised a pool competition at the Zone and Fraser Cameron had a ‘Beat the Goalie’ competition for S2 pupils in the school.

Health4Life Flascards

In Modern Languages pupils are working on their ‘Literacy Flashcards’ for the Comenius ‘Health4Life’ project. The flashcards will be produced in French, Greek, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish, the languages of the project, and will be used to enhance learning of these languages in classes.