SCHOOL NEWSLETTERMAY 2016

I hope you enjoy this newsletter. As weembark on another term which will befocused on exams, new classes andsome sad farewells I hope you findpleasure in looking over the highlightsof last term.

Yours sincerely,

Dr J Vance

RECTOR’SWELCOME

KEY DATESSummer term begins Monday 11�� AprilP7 Parents information evening Wednesday 13�� AprilRector’s drop-in session Monday 25�� AprilHoliday                          Monday 2ⁿ� MaySQA exams begin Wednesday 4�� MayRector’s drop-in session Monday 23�� MaySQA exams finish Friday 3�� JuneIn-service day Monday 6�� JuneAwards and Graduation Ceremony Tuesday 7�� JuneSports day Thursday 16�� JuneP7 visit days Monday 20�� ‐ Wednesday 22ⁿ� JuneMusical                         Wednesday 22ⁿ� - Friday 24�� June

MUSICOn the 12�� March the regional groups had their end of term concert at Eden Court.The regional groups are the Highland Youth Wind Band, Highland Youth RegionalOrchestra, ‘SNAS, Highland Youth Big Band, Coisir G, Highland Youth Choir, HighlandYouth Pipe Band and Highland Youth String Orchestra. All the groups have membersfrom Culloden Academy and they have four practice weekends a year leading to twoconcerts; Aviemore in November and at Eden Court in March. This year the regional group director, Mr Bolton, invited two more groups to play. Thepercussion group, made up of pupils from part of the regional groups, played Gypsydance and the other group was Culloden Academy’s very own Celtic Rock Band, TheRolling Drones. The Rolling Drones played two sets - Wits End, Silver Spear andEveryone Dance Now followed by Don’t Stop Believing and Jig Runrig. The RollingDrones added a brass section on top of their already loud ensemble of pipes, electricguitar, keyboard, bass guitar and drums.The weekends are a great opportunity to meet like-minded musicians and to createlong lasting friendships. They offer a great variety of groups to meet everyone’s taste inmusic. Even though the weekends are long, they are enjoyable and you learn a wholevariety of pieces. The weekends are also great to improve your playing standard as youlearn from the best tutors in the Highland region.On Sunday the 20�� March the Highland Youth Wind Band got an amazing opportunityto play at Perth Concert Hall, playing in the Scottish Concert Schools Band festival. Ourwind band qualified back in November when they played in the Aviemore concertgetting a Gold plus award.We competed against four other wind bands from all over Scotland. The standard ofplaying was extremely high. After all the groups performed, the Royal Conservatoirewindband played two fantastic pieces which blew the audience away. After they playedthe adjudication began and the HighlandYouth Wind Band came second with a Goldaward, only losing to a private school fromEast Lothian. The competition was a greatexperience and challenged the group to playtheir best. I hope the wind band continuesto be part of these competitions.Bradley McBride (S6)

Inverness Music Festival 2016This year’s festival, held predominantly atEden Court, ran from the end of Februaryand throughout March. Classes were heldthroughout the day and into the eveningand were all adjudicated by successfulmusicians from throughout the country.There was a strong representation fromCulloden including; The Rollin’ Drones; TheString Orchestra; both the Senior and JuniorTraditional Groups; and soloists LeaLanglands (vocals), Mark Green (violin),

Daisy MacGowan (trumpet and composition), Reuben Green (bagpipes), and LouisPeteranna (bagpipes). A special mention should be made to Daisy MacGowan who camefirst in the Open Brass solo class and so was invited back to perform in the festival’spremier competition, competing for the Curtis Craig cup. All the performers did afantastic job and should be proud of their achievements. (Music Dept)This year for the first time, Culloden strings orchestra joined together with the InvernessRoyal Academy (IRA) strings orchestra to make a group called ‘Strung Together’. Weplayed two songs - ‘Take me to church’, a modern song that was recently in the charts,and ‘Winter’ by Vivaldi. Thanks to Miss Ross our amazing tutor we were able to get an‘outstanding’ score of 90 out of 100 which meant we were awarded with a 1�� place. Alsoif it wasn’t for her we would never have had the opportunity to collaborate with anothergroup of talented musicians. (Tegan Smith, S3)

Extra-Curricular MusicRecently our pupils performed in our Spring Concert, which presented groups and soloistsfrom 1�� to 6�� year pupils. The instrumental groups, led by our fantastic music tutors,rehearse weekly and feature musicians playing stringed, wind, brass and percussioninstruments. The concert also featured our two traditional groups, various bands, andvocal groups, including the Junior Choir, led by 6�� year pupil Elise Ross. Elsewhere in thedepartment, the Vocal Confidence and Performance Workshop is held every second weekfor solo singers who want to improve their confidence and vocal technique. OwenThomson and I set up the club for all year groups, in order to create a relaxingenvironment to build self-esteem. It's been great to meet some very talented youngerpupils, and to see how their confidence has improved. We would like to thank our lovely

members, and the musicdepartment, for their continuedsupport. (Talia Bagnall S6)

ONLINE SHOPPINGHelp raise school funds for newlighting/sound in theatre and big screenfor the social area.Please use our new shopping portal:http://www.schoolangel.org.uk/culloden-academy.html.

1. Go to school angel2. Find school Culloden Academy3. Install ‘Remind-Me’

Participating retailers give on average5% of sales price to school. •Noregistration, no login, no passwords,safe and simple. •Amazon – Argos –M&S – Next – Debenhams – John Lewis– PC World and•lots, lots more…

CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNINGFollowing a successful Inter-House school cross-countrychampionships in Februarywe sent a team of 50runners to the North ofScotland Championships atGordonstoun. The first yearboys' team won their trophywith an excellent teamperformance. Our other 5teams all medalled in theirevents showing our strengthin depth in this discipline.Hopefully some of theseteams can make that nextstep in 2017 and win theircompetition. Well done andkeep up the good work.

PEBASKETBALL CLUBThe school basketball club has had anothersuccessful season both locally and in the ScottishCup. With Alix Henderson on a development yearin Spain the Senior Girls still qualified through todefeat Forfar Academy and St MauricesCumbernauld before meeting old rivals ArbroathHigh School in the semi-finals. After a highlycontested game with both teams playing a highstandard of basketball Arbroath pulled away in thelast quarter to win 93 -69. For a lot of the girls thiswas their last game after a hugely successful sixyears and we wish them well and hope they keepplaying.The Senior Boys also progressed to the semi-finalswith tough games against Baldragon HS and St.Rochs to negotiate after qualifying in the Highlandsection. In the semi-finals Culloden played a strongPortobello High School team and took them to thefinal minutes before losing out 56 - 64. Again anumber of the boys have played for the school forsix years and with the Mackay Cup final coming upwill have contributed a lot to the strong tradition ofbasketball at Culloden.Junior teams are all competing well and are incontention for Highland League success once allthe fixtures are completed.Mollie Lisle has once again been chosen torepresent Scotland at u'18 level. Well done!S1s Owen Heddle and Holly Reat are alsorepresenting Scotland at their respective agegroups - good effort!A big thank you to all the pupils who have given uptheir time to play and support the club throughscorekeeping and refereeing in our many fixtures -we couldn't do it without you.

SPORTS LEADERSThe S6 Sports Leaders class have beenvery active over the last two months.They helped run the Inter-Housecross-country championships inFebruary. Then they organised asuccessful programme of events forSports Relief Day raising close to£1000 for charity in the process. Theyalso made several visits to CroyPrimary where they coached the p3-7pupils in basketball, football andrugby. The primary pupils reallyenjoyed their sessions. Well doneLeaders- you are worthy of your SportsLeaders UK certificates.

TRIATHLON CLUBTriathlon is now up and running again aftera short winter break. Scottish teammember Jonathan Aitken has been leadingthe training sessions this season and thetriathletes have been working hard tofurther improve their swimming andrunning performances. Now that summerhas begun we will start introducing morecycling sessions also. We have set oursights on entering some events this seasonand are trying to build up the size of theclub and are always looking for newmembers so please come along and getinvolved. Training is on Mondays afterschool and no experience is required.

JOHN MUIR AWARD TRIP TO LOCH MOYClass 1D1 have been very active this yearand as part of their John Muir Awardthey undertook a small conservationproject at Loch Moy recently. Theyworked very hard to clear an 800msection of shoreline of litter. They didthemselves proud by doing an excellentjob as they left the area looking in apristine condition. Well done guys.

EQUESTRIAN

A quick up date on Culloden Academy's team ofZoe Maclennan (Blue bayou) Ewan Cromarty(Rocky) and Annie-Kirsty Macleod (Poacher)

A fun filled weekend at Tillyoch Equestrian,Aberdeen. The team took a 2nd in toughcompetition on the 28th Feb.

Next competition will be the end of April.

SCIENCEThe Higher Biology class spent a day inthe deep snow at the Highland WildlifePark looking at the role of animalbehaviour in determining the welfare ofanimals in captivity. Our focus animals forour behaviour studies were the Amurtigers. We were also given the opportunityto grade the polar bear, snow leopard,Scottish wildcat and red panda enclosures,

quizzing thekeepers as tohow and whytheenclosuresweredesigned inthe way theywere.

S2 science classes have been taking part inthe windchallenge,where wedesign windturbines inorder to carrya load of 15coins in thequickest time.

S3 biology classes have been learningabout genetic inheritance though makingReebops (fictional organisms). Here arethe offspring from the parent Reebopsfrom class 3A showing how variation inoffspring can arise from the same parents.

Science Club are awaiting the arrival ofseeds from space to take part in RocketScienceRocket Science, an educational projectlaunched by the RHS Campaign for SchoolGardening and the UK Space Agency. Twokilograms of rocket (Eruca sativa) seeds werelaunched on Soyuz 44S on 02 September2015 with European Space Agency (ESA)astronaut Andreas Mogensen and his crew,arriving on the International Space Station(ISS) two days later. British ESA astronautTim Peake will take charge of the seedswhile on the ISS for his Principia missionstarting in December. After being held forabout six months in microgravity, the seedswill bereturned toEarthwithastronautScottKelly.Therocketseeds successfully returned to Earth at04:26am on Tuesday 2nd March inKazakhstan and arrived back in the UK onthe 4th March, after successfully completingtheir six month mission on board the ISS.They are now being packed up ready to bedelivered to Culloden Academy after theEaster holidays. Culloden Academy will beone of up to 10,000 schools to receive apacket of 100 seeds from space, which theywill grow alongside seeds that haven't beento space and measure the differences overseven weeks. The students won't knowwhich seed packet contains which seedsuntil all results have been collected by theRHS Campaign for School Gardening andanalysed by professional biostatisticians.

PUPPETEERSCulloden Academy Puppeteers

The Culloden Academy Puppeteers are all set fortheir next road trip: They will be performing threeplays based on picture books in the upstairs sectionof Waterstones Inverness on Saturday 28th May. Ifyou'd like to see Capt'n Beastlie's Pirate Party , TheIt's Not Fairy and The Scarecrows' Wedding, feel freeto lend them your support - it's open to the public!

Times to be confirmed, but early afternoon is likely.

Highland Print Studio PhotogravureWorkshop with Tutor John McNaughtsponsored by Highland Decorative andFine Art Society.

Chloe Innes, Caitlin Kenley, Susie Hayand Robert McCormack joined somestudents from other Highlandsecondary schools at this workshop inJanuary. The prints generated will beused in Advanced Higher and ArtSchool folios. Art Schools are especiallykeen that applicants undertake workoutside the classroom.

ART & DESIGNHDFAS LecturesThis term students have enjoyedScotland's Ruined Castles, The Art of theBook, and William Hogarth 1697-1764with Linda SmithWe look forward to next term's lectures- "What Really Happened on EasterIsland" and " The Role of the Arts in theCycle of crime, prison and re-offending"and "Constable". We show our foliowork to the membership in May justbefore our own exhibition and SQAsubmission.

ADVANCED HIGHER ART & DESIGNSHOWAlthough the show has already takenplace, the work is on display untilThursday 26th May if you would like tocome and look.

This has been brought forward from datespublished in the school calendar due tochanges in SQA return policy.We want to congratulate our students ontheir hard work this year for AH and fordigital application folio, interviews andfolio submission to Art Schools…..here’s asneak preview of their work and theunconditional offers and next steps theyare currently considering!

Kirsty CalderDestination: conditional offer for UHIArchitectural Technician course

Susie HayDestination: applying to UHI for PortfolioCourse before application to Art School

Chloe InnesDestination: Currently holding anunconditional offer for Fashion at HeriotWatt University and RGU

Caitlin KenleyDestination: Interested in MedicalIllustration after a GAP year

Katie MacDonaldCurrently holding an unconditional offer forDrawing and Painting at Gray's School ofArt RGU

Chelsea MacGillivrayDestination: Currently holding anunconditional offer for Fashion HeriotWatt University

Robert McCormackDestination: Currently holdingunconditional offers from SculptureEdinburgh College of Art, Drawing andPainting Gray's School of Art RGU,Drawing and Painting Glasgow School ofArt

Callum MurrayDestination: Calum is considering hisoptions for a GAP year.

Finlay MacNeilDestination: Currently holding anunconditional offer for MechanicalEngineering at Glasgow University

UHI HND Student, former pupil Jack Kay,delivers Photoshop workshop for S1classesIt is a requirement for Jack's HND Art andDesign course to deliver a workshop foryoung people in his community. S1enjoyed his take on repeating a patternusing Photoshop. This extended theirwork on repeat pattern inspired byWilliam Morris. Thank you Jack!

ART CLUBA huge thank you to Robert McCormackfor all his hard work with the club thisyear. This goes to press as he hands overthe baton to Ewen Calder and TimRobinson for a trial run next term beforecommiting themselves to the wholesession 2016/17!

Maggie Centre Visit and FundraisingIn January 5 of our Higher students visitedthe Inverness Maggie's Centre with theirprototype designs. After a guided tour thestudents pitched their design ideas tostaff and received a critique to help themresolve their designs. They all found this avery helpful and rewarding experienceand our thanks go to the staff at Maggie's

BUSINESS STUDIESCask took part in the YESfinals prior to the Easterholidays at the Ironworksin Inverness. They wereinterviewed about theirbusiness activity by apanel of judges and wererequired to give aprofessional presentationon stage in front of a largeaudience. Well done tothe team for getting tothe finals and being brilliant!

Cask gained lots of new life skills by taking part in thisprogramme which is designed to allow senior pupilsthe chance to set up and run a business - learning bydoing.

It is hoped that YES will run again next year and therecruitment process will begin in June. You don't needto have studied business subjects - it is open toeveryone in S6. If you are in S6, would you like to setup and run a small business and be part of theCulloden Academy Young Enterprise Team, please seeMrs Hay or Miss Thomson.

Cask are currently awaiting their Young EnterpriseScotland Business Exam results from the University ofStrathclyde Business School. The results of the exam,which tests business and entrepreneurial acumen, aredue to be released week beginning 2nd May 2016

HOME ECONOMICSNext year will be the first time that the department will be running the HOSPITALITY:SKILLS FOR WORK qualification.The course provides an introduction to the different sectors of the hospitalityindustry, the provision of hospitality locally, nationally and internationally. The focusis on experiencing all areas of the food and drink service: the professional kitchen,customer care skills, reception skills and hospitality events. Candidates will beinvolved in menu planning and have practical experience of preparing, cooking andpresenting a range of commodities, serving food and drinks, and planning, organisingand running a small hospitality event.Emphasis throughout all the units is on employability skills and attitudes which willhelp prepare candidates for any workplace.However it is equally valuable for S5 and S6 pupils who are planning to leave hometo begin working life or to go to higher education as it prepares them forindependent living. It is also useful for students who are looking for part-time orseasonal employment to help fund their studies: Tourism and Hospitality is the singlebiggest employment sector in both the Highlands and Scotland.

In February two of our pupils had the chance to work with Scott Davies from theworld famous Three Chimneys restaurant in Skye. Here is their account of theexperience: On the 25th of February we went to the UHI to experience what it would be like towork in a professional kitchen. We worked with Scott Davies and his team from theThree Chimneys on Skye. He is a 3 AA rosette winning head chef and formerMasterchef finalist.When we got there we were given chef jackets and hats. We were thrown into theaction of a busy kitchen and were given lots of jobs to do including cutting outbeetroot and apple jelly circles, shelling oysters and deboning lamb chops. It was anexcellent chance to shadow a professional chef, use ingredients which we were notfamiliar with such as caviar and squid inkand then get to sample the dishes made.Ultimately we really enjoyed thisexperience and gained a lot of knowledgeabout professional cookery.

By Deryn Murphy and Erin Kelly

ENGLISHAuthor Visit to the SchoolYA author Teri Terry comes to CullodenAcademy! As a result of CullodenPuppeteers winning the nationwide booktrailer competition for her novel MindGames, the award-winning author TeriTerry visited the school on February10th. Luckily for us, the first prize was afree school visit!The visit began the night before whenTeri hosted a teenage book groupdiscussion at Waterstones Inverness. Thefollowing morning, Mrs Henderson tookthe author - and four huge boxes ofbooks to sell! - to the school where theyset up shop in the library.

The first group to hear her wasa self-selecting audience ofbook enthusiasts from 12-17who had signed up in advance.They were interested and lively,to the point that there actuallywasn't time to ask all thequestions pupils put forward.

After an assembly for S4 classes in the theatre, an S5English class questioned Teri about her writing career,her unusual name (the result of a Teresa marrying aman named Mr Terry) and her background, with aview to create a display about the author visit for thelibrary.But it was only right that the puppeteers who wonher visit should have a chance to speak to herproperly: The meeting room was booked, a soup andsandwich lunch was provided, and the puppeteerswere treated to a signed book each, alongside qualitybanter with the author and even a sneak preview atcover designs for different language editions.As if all this wasn't enough, the Inverness Courierreporter arrived to take photos before Teri had toleave for her flight south in the early afternoonAll in all, a busy and exciting day.

SKI TRIPThe ski trip was totally sound this year!Mrs Johnston, Miss Johnston, Mr Aireyand Mrs Shepherd were involved intaking a large group of pupils to Italy tothe amazing resort of Prato Nevoso.As always, trips abroad are always a goodlaugh and hugely eventful, and this tripwas a laugh a minute. So the journey wasa total trek and the road up to our resortwas not the best bus journey I have beenon. There were lots of sick bags out at theready. We arrived at Prato Nevoso late atnight and everyone was desperate toclimb into bed after a long day travelling.On the first day we went to get all of ourequipment fitted. This surprisingly, didn'ttake too long, and before we knew it wewere ready to hit the slopes. There werelots of beginners, including myself, andwe hit the bunny slopes, buzzing to give ita go. After a few epic bails and Bambimoments, and figuring out that one weeboy's skis didn't fit because his bootswere on the wrong feet, we soonmastered the art of the snow plough.This was apart from my wee sister Morvwho wiped out the entire crew - onSEVERAL occasions.After a few days we made it up on thechairlift. For those of you who have neverbeen on a chairlift I cannot put intowords the confusion trying to get off it atthe top. Myself, Harry and Kieran landedin a heap on the floor, much to MissJohnston's delight.

Throughout the trip the whole group picked up the mighty S6 slogan of "Hilay" and evenMr Airey - the king of the slopes - began to use it. We would shout it when we passedother groups from Culloden up in the hills, and even the teachers were shouting it fromthe lifts at us.Every night we had free time to roam the town. We had a look about the shops, ate pizzaand binged on crepes with Nutella.One of the highlights of the trip was night skiing. The slopes were empty apart from ourgroup and our instructors took us to the ski park to work on jumps and cool turns. Welanded some amazing 360's. Another highlight was snow tubing. This involved lying on arubber dingy and belting it down an icy hill. The teachers overshot their landing andlanded in a pile in the snow. Quality!The actual skiing part was great, I loved every minute. Me and the boys - Harry, Jord,Kieran and Roddy became snow sport pros and did a black slope. It was one of thehighlights of school for me and me and the lads are planning another ski trip duringbreaks from University in the future.

A big thank you to all of the staffwho gave up their Februaryweekends to take us away. Theyput a lot of effort in and weretop banter. We bought themsome chocolate as a thank you.A special shout out to Mr Aireywho, after maybe thirty minutesof being on the bus on the wayhome (remember it was a trek!)was hit in the face withprojectile vomit. It was propermingin' but luckily Miss Johnstonhad wet wipes.Jonathan MacAulay