Culloden Academy Newsletter

July 2014

Introduction. With a new curriculum for Culloden Academy, a new computer system for all Highland schools and a new exam system for Scotland, this has certainly been a year of change. In behind all the change, however, we hope there has been a lot of continuity- Culloden Academy continues to go from strength to strength as a centre of learning and a school that prepares its young people for the world of work, or of further or higher education. I hope that what follows is an enjoyable read and gives you a snap-shot of life in and around Culloden Academy. I wish you all a pleasant and relaxing summer and look forward to working with you all again in session 2014-15.

Staff Farewells

This week we bid farewell to five members of staff. After 33 years of service to Culloden Academy Alison Mackenzie is retiring as PT of Music to pursue other opportunities within the world of traditional music. Alison has influenced and inspired many young musicians, organised and led many school concerts and we will miss her presence in and around the school. At the same time, Willie Gilmour also leaves the Music department after 13 years. His talent, enthusiasm and dedication will be much missed by pupils and colleagues. Bridget Gibson leaves us (again) after 8 years as a member of staff. Bridget has actually been on secondment at Nairn Academy this session as Acting PT but has now secured a permanent PT post at Alness which she takes up in August. Sean McAnena is leaving us to broaden his experience by becoming a Teacher of English as an Additional Language, working across the Highlands. Struan Scott-Woodhouse has finished his probationary year and has secured a permanent position at Millburn Academy. All will be sorely missed by the staff, parents and pupils of Culloden Academy but we wish them all the best in the next phase of their lives. School Calendar. The school calendar for session 2014-15 has now been published on the website. Should any additions or amendments be required, the website version will be updated and notification of this added to the website. Please note that the pattern of in-service days has been changed. This year there is one in August, two in September, one in October, one in February and one in June. The logic is (as I understand it) that by positioning more of the time for specific staff training early in the session we are increasing the likelihood of the training impacting on learning and teaching in that session. Also, the three days in February were a very unreliable time to organise Authority wide training as travel conditions often undermined training events.

Key Dates. Although the annual calendar has been published I thought it worth publishing some of the key

dates for next term.

18th August: school opens to staff 19th August: school opens to pupils 27th August: Rector’s drop-in 8th September: Parent Council AGM 15th September: New S4 Awards 25th and 26th September: In-service days, school closed to pupils 1st October: Rector’s drop-in 10th October: School sponsored walk

August SQA Results Day. In August when the results come out some pupils may wish to amend their course choices. This is quite normal and will be dealt with in the first few days of the new term. The office will be manned all day on the 5th August and any pupil can ring up to make an appointment to see their Guidance teacher on Monday 18th. As discussed in assembly, issued on a sheet in registration on Wednesday 2nd July and explained on this website, appeals decisions will be taken by the school in line with the new advice and procedures introduced by SQA. This will be addressed by the school in the first week back and office staff over the holidays do not have access to information about this. Dress Code. Once again, thank you for your support for our dress code. There have been many compliments and benefits to the school from the very positive impression that we have made. The plan is to continue to build on this good work next session. The details of the dress code have been included in previous newsletters but just in case there is any doubt: The agreed school dress code for Culloden Academy is:

Sweatshirt black or grey, Girls’ Cardigan or V neck Jumper black or purple or Boys’ V neck Jumper black.

Shirt/blouse - black or white.

Trousers/skirt- black only.

Tie (all pupils are expected to wear the school tie) S5/6 purple, S1-4 striped. Other optional elements, available through the catalogue are:

Pleated skirt- Isle of Skye tartan

Body warmer- Black with logo

Blazer- black with logo, and braid for prefects.

Please help us further develop the standing of Culloden Academy pupils by encouraging your son/daughter to wear the school tie. If, however, this is becoming a major issue for your child as they prepare to join us, a supply of polo shirts is still available and may be purchased to wear until they get used to school ties. This session we had a second significant round of tie buying once pupils saw how smart their friends looked and I anticipate that any pupil struggling with the idea of wearing a school tie will be quickly won round in August. The office will be manned for the week prior to the new term if you wish to purchase any items. I am aware that some parents feel that the official school-wear is too expensive and prefer to buy jumpers and shirts from other sources which do not have the Culloden Academy logo on them. Similarly, some pupils prefer a certain style of jumper or blouse. This is fine- so long as they are plain and do not have any other logo on them. However, for the reasons outlined above, all pupils should be clearly identifiable as a pupil of Culloden Academy. This can be achieved with a plain shirt and school tie. Wider Achievement. I am delighted to tell you that alongside our SQA qualifications for pupils in the senior phase, our S1-3 pupils will be gaining a wide range of qualifications which include John Muir, Sports Leader, Dance Leader, Diana anti-bullying award and we hope to offer Duke of Edinburgh again to S3 pupils. New MIS. All Highland schools are in the process of moving over to a new Management Information System for pupil information. The current system of e1 is being replaced by SEEMIS. One advantage of this is that once we are confident that we have accurate information in the system we will be able to set it to automatically text any parent whose child is absent. In August we will be asking parents for a contact number so that we can introduce this system as soon as possible. Telephone Line. Please note that the Parents Telephone Line – most commonly used for School Closures i.e. adverse weather has been changed to an 0800 number so that Parents are not charged for the call. The previous 0870 number has now ceased and the new number is 08005642272.

Positive Ethos. As part of a whole school project to develop our positive learning environment for all pupils and staff at Culloden Academy, classroom doors are being decorated with the theme of ‘Be All You Can’. You can see a few of the examples below:

Prefects. The following have been appointed to prefect leadership posts: Head Girl Lydia Maciver Head Boy Dani Foy Depute Head Girl Elizabeth Barke Depute Head Boy Ian Macleod House Captains – Clava Picts Karolina Huryn Robyn Logan Luca Micheletti Gillian Piper Sam Robinson House Captains – Keppoch Scots Vickie Baijal Ryan Bell Ross Freck Abi Macmillan Keith Nicolson House Captains – Leanach Gaels Nicola Alexander Hannah Finlayson Chirsty Macaskill Sophie Maclean Natalie Peteranna House Captains – Drumossie Vikings Calum Hay Christopher Johnson Ailsa MacCallum Peter Meredith Sports Captains Jenni Anderson Ryan Macleod

Sports Prefects Carla MacNeil Eilidh Robertson Andrew Young George Beamish Calum Hall Aidan Macdonald Social Events Prefects Calum Wilkinson Jemma Buchanan Jenni Wood Joe Farquhar Rachel Mackenzie Rachael Anderson Iona Alexander Sean Notman Jessica Wan Sarah Stuart Robyn Cockcroft Siobhan Pearson Mhairi Smith Support for Learning Prefect Shona-Ann Macleod Your support for our school is highly valued and thanks for all your work with us. All the best, Dr J Vance Head-teacher

CONGRATULATIONS to all members of Culloden Academy’s Young

Enterprise Team – BOOM – on passing the Young Enterprise Scotland Examination run through the University of Strathclyde Business School. Certificates were presented at the recent graduation ceremony.

BOOM also achieved success at the Young Enterprise Finals Event which took place at the Ironworks in April – you may have seen them in the Inverness Courier. Samantha Smith (pictured left as ‘Super Sam’) gained the award for Most Outstanding Speaker/Personality – very well done Sam! BOOM were also awarded second place for their Annual Report. Great work!

BOOM gained awards, lots of new life skills and had great fun along the way. LOOK at their notice board outside the staff room to see more about their achievements and news. It is hoped that YES will run again this year and the recruitment process has now started. You don’t need to have studied business subjects – it is open to everyone in S6. If you are in S6, would you like to set up and run a small business and be part of the Culloden Academy Young Enterprise Team? Please see Miss Thomson asap.

Learning and Sharing New Skills

Shona Ann Macleod (S6) has been enjoying some jewellery making workshops where she has been learning new skills. This has included making a shamballa bracelet, an illusion necklace and bracelet and a box stitch bracelet. These skills are now being used in school where Shona Ann is making more jewellery and sharing her new skills with others. Look out for some of these being on sale around Christmas time. Shona Ann has also attended the Integrated Perfomance Group at Eden Court Theatre. Here she has joined in with dance, drama, improvisation which culminated with a whole group performance in front of an audience.

National 4 and 5 Drama Showcase Last session, for the first time ever, our pupils showcased their practical exam work to an invited audience of friends and family. This was a resounding success with very positive feedback received. This ensured the pupils were fully prepared for their official exam which took place the following week and our Visiting Assessor from the SQA was extremely impressed with the standard of work and professionalism demonstrated by the pupils. A huge congratulations to all involved and thank you to all those who were able to join us.

S2 Film Premiere Our S2 classes spent the year making their very own class film. Pupils were involved in the entire process starting with writing the plot, developing characters, acting on camera, filming, designing props and costumes, selecting sound effects and music and editing the film together. The final result was shared with the whole year group in a ‘film premiere’ in the theatre. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed watching their own work and others and we were very impressed with the quality of work this year. These films are available to be copied and taken home to share if a DVD or USB is provided so please get in touch if you would like to take advantage of this.

National Theatre of Scotland This session, the Drama Department have been collaborating with local arts promoter “Play Pieces” and playwright Jennifer Henderson, to develop an original script for performance in the National Theatre of Scotland’s 5 Minute Theatre Show. The script was written with help from senior pupils and tackles the question of Independence from the perspective of a young person without raising any one political view. It was selected from thousands of entries to be featured in this exciting 24 hour event which saw the performance streamed live across the world online on Tuesday 24th June. You will be able to see the performance on the official website - http://fiveminutetheatre.com. Our performance has gained much interest within the media, particularly since the NTS chose to feature us specifically in their press release – 1 of 8 highlighted performances out of 180 entries! What an incredible honour! The BBC has since visited the school to interview and record the performers as part of a documentary they are making of the event. The documentary will be aired on BBC Radio Scotland on 9th July at 1.30pm so do tune in and listen out for us!

Higher Drama Site Specific Performance The new Higher Drama pupils are already hard at work creating a site specific performance which was presented at Clava Cairns on the evening of Friday 27th June. The performance is open to family and friends as well as members of the public so please come along and show your support, and spread the word. We very much enjoy receiving feedback from our audiences – which is also useful for the pupils who must write up an evaluation of their work - so why not ‘tweet’ your feedback to our twitter account, @cullodendrama or leave a comment on our Drama Blog – cullodendrama.wordpress.com.

Highland Disability Sports Day On Thursday 8th May, at the Highland Disability Sports Day several Culloden Academy pupils performed outstandingly in their chosen events: Girls 100mtrs race - Rachel Spriggs (1st) Girls 800mtrs walking race - Shona Ann Macleod (3rd) Girls 400mtrs race - Rachel Spriggs (1st), Claire Wilson (2nd) and Becky Kemp (3rd) Girls 800mtrs race - Seraphina Poulton (1st) Boys 800mtrs race - Ross Halkett (3rd) and Christopher Friend (4th) Boys 60mtrs race – Ian Boyd (1st) Boys 100mtrs race - Ian Boyd (1st) The Culloden Academy Girls Relay team also came 1st - Congratulations Becky, Seraphina, Claire and Rachel. Two of the pupils were then selected to attend the Scottish Disability Sports Championships, held at Grangemouth Sports Stadium on 6th June. Both pupils came 1st place in the events they competed in. Ian Boyd - 100m Gold Rachel Spriggs - 400m Gold

Puppetry Club Performance at Culloden Library Once upon a time, fifteen pupils, a librarian and a Drama teacher made their way to Culloden library to entertain local toddlers with four traditional fairy tales…

The Culloden Academy Puppetry Club is one of the Drama department’s more recent ventures. Open to S1-S3, it runs weekly and had its first public performance at Culloden Library on 7th June, in combination with a ‘Story-time’ event. Pupils performed tales as diverse as The Frog Prince, The Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty and Spirit in the Bottle.

The room was full to capacity with young children and their parents. The puppeteers were a credit to the school and we were incredibly proud of them as the audience’s giggles and shrieks gave way to loud

applause! Mrs Gowans, the school librarian, entertained the children while each new group set up, and changes were smooth due to our excellent backstage team, especially sound operator, Lewis Allan. Just a few quotes to give you a flavour: “It was much better than I expected. You got to do much more than just acting, like making props and doing the whole thing. You get to work with your friends, which makes it fun!” (Erin Matheson) “I really liked hearing the little kids laugh in all the right bits. And no-one’s looking at you.” (Shannon Pryde) “I really thought I was going to be more nervous, but I wasn’t. My favourite bit was walking around the kids with the puppets after the performance.” (Kelly Pryde) “It was enjoyable because performing is fun with your friends. My sister and Mum saw it and they loved it!” (Kaitlin Mackintosh) “I think we worked well as a team and managed to pull off all of the voices!” (Ewan Robertson) We hope to take the fairy tales to some local nurseries as well as preparing for a Halloween showcase at Culloden Library. Shadow puppetry and marionettes are next on our To Do list, so prepare to be amazed! Also, if anyone has unused puppets they would like to donate, these would be very welcome. Please send them to Mrs Henderson in the Drama Department.

Monsterfest Trip On Friday 13th, 5-7 pupils from each 2nd year class went on a trip to the Monsterfest which was held at Inverness College. Some of the activities included plumbing, electricity, 3-D body, Scotland’s Time, Lords, Perception, rocket making, animals and dowsing. Our favourite activity was the one where you made your own rocket with chemicals. Once we got the hang of creating our own rockets, we had a competition to see whose rocket could make the loudest bang. Our least favourite activity was the dowsing. The reason for this is we don’t think it involved much Science and there was no proof of it actually working. But overall everybody really enjoyed the trip to the Monsterfest and we would recommend it to the next 2nd years and we would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible! So thank you from Emma Pedrana, Tegan Smith and Ellie Fraser on behalf of Culloden Academy.

Last Friday we went to the Science festival at Inverness College. While we were there we went to a series of events. My 3 favourites were: 3D human body, Rocket Science and Balloon popping. At the 3D human body we saw cells and we learned about what our bodies are made of. In Rocket Science we had to use oxygen and hydrogen and then we used a capsule and set it off with a gas lighter and we recorded the

loudest bang. At Balloon popping we had to build a circuit from a diagram and put parts together and put air into the balloon then popped it when it got big enough. Nadine McKillop 2KS2 Last Friday we went to the Science festival at Inverness College. My favourites were: 3D human body, Rocket Science, water dowsing and plumbing. In the plumbing we got to fit pipes together and put water in to see if they were water tight. The water dowsing activity was where we had to walk around a grid with y-shaped sticks or metal poles. In Rocket Science we got to shoot plastic capsules across the hall. My most favourite was the full 3D body experience where the showed us the parts of the body in 3D. I loved it when they showed us the brain. The festival was fun and I would like to attend it again! Jamie Mason-Pate 2CP2

Home Economics The new kitchens have now been completed and they look very bright and fresh. New equipment is still arriving and everything will be in place for next session. We are delighted to introduce Mrs J Macdonald to the department who will be working every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This means that for the first time in a number of years we are able to have S1 pupils taking part in practical cookery lessons. Some of the new S1 had the chance to visit our new rooms during their P7 visit when they were introduced to the type of work that they will be doing in the department. The teachers made delicious mixed berry smoothies for the pupils to taste. It was explained that the smoothies help meet the Dietary Goals for Scotland. Congratulations to Erin Matheson who was placed in the top ten of the Culinary Games pupil competition. This nationwide competition required pupils to create a main course recipe for any one of the 70 nations competing at this year’s Commonwealth games. Once created, the pupils then had to cook it, take a photo and indicate why they chose that country. Erin chose India and prepared Chicken Biryani with Rustic Roti. Erin’s recipe will be appearing in the Culinary Games Cookbook. She will receive a copy of the cookbook and also a £25 itunes voucher. The cookbook should be online and the school will also receive a hardcopy.

Gaelic S1 - S2 Gaelic Learner pupils were recognised by CLAS for their excellent written pieces. The writing competition entries had to be in by Monday 9th June 2014.

Each of the following pupils received a certificate for the personal profiles they completed and handed in on the topic of 'Mi-Fhin'; Eve Hargreaves Kelsey Cain Molly Kesson Jessica Brown Bailey Stewart Lucy MacDonald Eve Hart Ben Johnstone Natalie Marshall Kirstin Moir Ben Murphy Scott Mutch Jack Taylor Erin Kelly Bronwyn Crow Graham Bowden Ethan Murphy Carys John Steven MacKenzie James Aitken Eilidh Grant Lewis Allan Jed Scott Hannah Johnson Abigail Stephen Jude MacDonald Jake Thomson Rory Cromarty Ross Halkett Adam Koscielny Aimee Weir Angus Lawrie Brian Flint Ewan Leishman Kai Stewart Katie Munro Kian MacKenzie Lauren McKenzie Philip Nicol Erin MacKenzie

S2, S3 & S4 Gaelic Learners 16th June Visit from Rachel Lincoln of Sabhal Mor Ostaig Gaelic College, Isle of Skye Rachel spoke to all pupils about careers for Gaelic speakers, the college and its courses and pathways into potential jobs during and after completion of the courses. A big thank you to Rachel for all the information she shared with us and also to all the pupils in these classes for being so welcoming and attentive.

Art & Design SQA Submission 2014 Well done to all 88 N5, Int.2 and Higher pupils who submitted folio work to SQA this session for external assessment- we met our 30/4/14 deadline by the skin of our teeth!

Mounting, labelling and parcelling up to 6 A2 sheets per candidate for central marking…….!!!! The Department organises the return of these folios. The SQA charges £11.80 per candidate so please let us know as soon as possible if you want your work ……deadline for requests is September. Highland Decorative & Fine Art Society 15/5/14 HDFAS Advanced Higher Folio Show Smithton Church Hall Annually we link with this community group to show our students’ folio work. This year the event coincided with a very interesting lecture on ceramics by Lars Thorpe of Antique Road Show fame. He spent some time chatting with our students about their work and their future plans.

12/6/14 Exhibition of 3-Dimensional Design by National and Higher students at Smithton Church Hall

Students’ work arrives in school minibus! Mall Gallery Competition – A PowerPoint of Expressive work by senior students was shown to Society members to identify the most popular work for submission to this competition……It was decided to forward the work of Lewis Reid shown below, though all the work was much admired.

Lewis Reid

At the same event Clare Black and Eleanor Macdonald delivered a vote of thanks to the Society for sponsorship of the Life Drawing workshop run by Dean Melville in December and the Printmaking Workshop at Highland Print Studios in February. Both girls have accepted unconditional offers from Gray’s School of Art, RGU in Aberdeen to study Fashion and Textiles and feel that this experience outside school

helped them secure their places. Eleanor has deferred her entry to participate in a Project Trust adventure in Ghana first.

Clare Black and Eleanor Macdonald

18/7/14 American Impressionism Exhibition NADFAS have also sponsored (by funding transport costs) 8 senior students to attend a preview talk about this show which opens on 19th July in Edinburgh and the new Picasso acquisition in The National Gallery of Modern Art - worth a visit if you’re in the capital this summer.

We would like to thank HDFAS for their continued support.

Further recognition in Textiles Discipline The Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership has decided to use Lucia D’Meza-Ovalle’s work from S3 on the front cover of their research document into linking Education with the Textile Industry. Lucia was delighted by this!

She had been working on a textiles based piece which used the rich and diverse textural surfaces of the Scottish shoreline as inspiration. Initially, Lucia made detailed drawn studies using mixed media. The focus for Lucia was to then interpret her drawings of the rich textural surfaces of the shoreline in fibre. Lucia used all kinds of techniques to create her piece including bonding, applique, embroidery and embellishment with beads and found items. This work is part of our new S3 course – we also cover Ceramics, Printmaking and Art as Voice an Expressive Art project. Students are enjoying building these skills essential to progress to the new qualifications at National and Higher level. ADVANCED HIGHER SUCCESS Taking textiles into the Expressive Arts has also worked well for Kirsty MacLennan. Kirsty’s folio so impressed SQA assessors that it has been selected as part of an event showcasing outstanding Advanced Higher work in the Tramway Visual Art’s Studio in November. This venue has been described as a “hub of creative energy” in Glasgow…..a real privilege! Well done Kirsty.

Kirsty MacLennan

NATIONAL AWARD - Design a Maggie Centre Winner: Gerry Reid Upon receipt of the Maggie’s Architecture competition brief, several students at Culloden Academy were keen to take part in what is the perfect opportunity to move as close to a practising architect’s experience as possible. This is a hugely beneficial project for school students to undertake as it really challenges them to achieve excellence. Led by Mr Airey, the students visited the Maggie Centre in Inverness to undertake research and explore the building. Mr Airey was keen to conduct the project in as professional a way as possible and meeting the client in order to further explore the brief was central to giving the students a

genuine experience of professional life. Gerry shone from early on and we knew that she had something special. With the guidance of Mr Airey, Maggie Centre in Inverness and with her own high level of commitment and natural ability, Gerry has achieved this wonderful success. We are all immensely proud.

Gerry Reid with her winning Design

Leading Architect Richard Murphy and Scottish journalist and television presenter Kirsty Wark selected the winning design. Gerry wins a week’s work experience with Richard Murphy Architects. Gerry receives her award at the Lighthouse in Glasgow where her work will be on show along with other shortlisted entries. The department would like to thank our local Maggie Centre for enabling visits and dialogue as the students’ projects developed. Learning in the Outdoors Looking to nature for inspiration – certificate classes start research drawing for their expressive unit work.

S1 Totems 3-D construction resulted in a great group piece. New Qualifications now require that students look to the Art & Design of non-western cultures and look historically before 1750………so we start early!

6/6/14 New Craigs Exhibition

Students attend prize giving at hospital as part of the hospital’s community links program.

24/6/14 Gray’s School of Art, RGU A good day was had by all on our annual Degree Show adventure. This year 44 students visited Gray’s: “The art there was fantastic – especially the sculptures”. “….it has given me inspiration for my own design and expressive work”. “Absolutely fabulous! I want to go now, if possible…….most of my time was spent in the Product Design and Architecture rooms”. “My favourite parts were the Communication Design and Textiles”. “The Architecture was awesome”. “Fashion and Digital Media was inspiring”. “Very interesting to see what we might do in the future”. 18/6/14 Further links with community Groups: Robert McCormack holds his own discussing the need for a “creative hub” in Inverness – see Inverness Old Town Arts on web for more detail.

……and finally our end of year show, 1/7/14

Advanced Higher students Robert with former pupils and Sandra Dingwall retired Art teacher blethering!

A busy and very productive year….have a great summer, be inspired visit some galleries or get in touch with your creative side by drawing, painting, making, look at our BLOG…………..and we look forward to what next year brings!

Donegal 2014

The Ceilidh Band members are counting down to their visit to Donegal! Following a year of fundraising and practising the band will leave Inverness on Sunday 6th July for a week on the west coast of Donegal. The band will play in various venues as well as meeting up with a group of young Donegal musicians. The band are very grateful for the support given to them with their fundraising and would like to thank Highland Council, Friends of Highland Music, the many businesses that donated to the recent raffle as well as family and friends. The raffle raised a magnificent £1,135.

Festival Success The Ceilidh Band and Junior Ceilidh Band both competed in the Lairg Music Festival in June and as well as winning their respective classes were also commended for the high standard of their playing. There were solo successes for band members as well: Kerr MacDonald in S3 won the Whistle class and Mark Green and Mabel Green were placed second and third in the 13-15 Fiddle Class. Well done to them all.

Fundraising for the British Red Cross On Wednesday 25th June the staff team was defeated by the senior pupils 4-0 in a staff v pupils dodgeball game. The game was held at lunch time with an entry fee of £1 to watch in aid of the British Red Cross. It was an exciting game enjoyed by all who participated and watched.

As well as the dodgeball game five bands battled it out in a lunch time Battle of the Bands concert on Friday 27th June. Once the spectators had taken their seats Miss Dow got the show under way. First in line was the school’s Celtic rock band called The Rolling Drones playing ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and a jig, followed by Ceitidh and Lea, two 4th year girls. Next up was Fallen Connections which consists of 4 sixth year pupils although one was away in Tanzania. They played an original song written by Connor Vass-Johnston, their lead singer. Following Fallen Connections was a pair of 3rd year girls; Phoebe and Beth who played a mash up of several songs. And to finish we had the amazing staff band consisting of Mr Gilmour, Miss Munro, Mr Crossley, Mr Macdermid and Mr Lusher who played their rendition of ‘Stairway to Heaven’. After a short break the judges announced their winner… on the judging panel we had Miss Henderson, Mr Livesey, Miss Wallace, Mr Skinner and Lauren MacKay-representing the British Red Cross. Mr Livesey announced the winner, which was…Fallen Connections! Well done to all who participated.

(Missing from the picture is the staff band, Phoebe Heap and Rory MacIver) I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who participated and spectated and the staff and pupils who helped me organise the two events. The total amount fundraised has yet to be counted however it will be announced in the notices before the end of term. Daisy MacGowan

Highland Youth Voice Conference Six young people represented Culloden Academy at the Conference held at Sabhal Mor Ostaig. These young people participated in health and wellbeing workshops, referendum debates and educational discussions. In the evenings they socialised and made friends with other young people from around the Highlands at a ceilidh.

Sports Day Stalls Culloden Academy's Sports Day Stalls were once again a big success! All pupils involved exemplified outstanding behaviour and commitment to the school and really did themselves proud. The day was lots of fun with various different activities including Sponge the Teacher which was a big crowd drawer, Beat the Goalie, Boat Races and lots of lovely home baking which could have rivalled Harry Gow! Pupils involved gave up lots of their own time to organise and create such fantastic stalls in the weeks beforehand and showed great responsibility on the day by manning their stalls as well as competing in the many events – job well done!

Congratulations and Well Done to: Jonathan Aitken 5CP1 who won the Home Cup at the Boys Brigade Highland swimming gala for the 5th year in a row. He also won the Boys Brigade Highland cross country championship held earlier this year and came 25th in the Pruhealth World Triathlon Series Youth Aquathlon in May. James Aitken 2CP2 who came a close second in the Boys Brigade Highland cross-country championships for his age category. He won 3 gold medals at the recent Swimming Graded Meet Championships held in Inverness for the Highlands. These were for individual 100m freestyle, IM boys 11-12 yrs 200m relay, and freestyle boys 11-12 yrs 200m relay. Ishana Graham 3LG2 who took part in the Strathclyde Regatta rowing against teams from across Scotland, England and Ireland and took first place in the under 14 mixed quad and came 2nd in the under 14 women’s quad. Cosmo Taylor 3CP2 who had exceptional results from the Powerlifting Championships at the Body Power Expo in Birmingham where his Bench Press of 67.5kg gained him both British and Body Power records and his deadlift at 127.5kg was also a Body Power record – all this at 72kg body weight. At the Scottish Sports Track and Field Event Ian Boyd 5DV2 and Rachel Spriggs 4LG1 who both came 1st in their respective events. Ian Boyd - 100m Gold; Rachel Spriggs - 400m Gold. All 42 Duke of Edinburgh award pupils who passed the expedition section of their Bronze level. Fraser McKellar 3DV1 who won a silver medal in the Under 16 boys Team Kata event at the Scottish Karate Championships held in the Meadowbank Arena, Edinburgh. The Rugby 7s team captained by Fraser Cameron who won the Highlands and Islands rugby 7s tournament. The team consisted of Calum MacPherson, Kyle Stewart, Cailean Fraser, Fraser Cameron, Ewen Rennie, Sam Cain, Alan Cruickshank, Thomas Maclean, Jamie Carson, Fraser MacLennan, Ben Rennie, Andrew Gray. Alasdair Prott 2KS2 who won the U13s Squash Italian Open.