Moffat Academy Secondary News 2022/23, Term 2

Auschwitz Trip

Elliott Hepburn and Kit Armstrong recently represented Moffat Academy on a one day visit to Auschwitz, organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Reflections on Auschwitz by Elliott Hepburn and Kit Armstrong.

We left Edinburgh Airport at 6am on a cold Wednesday morning on the 16^th November bound for Poland. We had no idea what to expect from our one-day trip to Auschwitz, but on our return 18 hours later we had witnessed things that will stay with us long into the future. The sheer scope and size of Auschwitz is what hit us more than anything else we saw. It brought home the enormity of the industrial scale murder that occurred within the walls of this place. On our return , when people asked what was it like? it's incredibly difficult to give an answer. What we can say is it is something that everyone should do if they get the chance, because Auschwitz is a horrible reminder of the atrocities that humans are capable of inflicting on each.

S4 Mock Interviews

S4 pupils received their Mock Interviews on Wednesday 21st December. this involved completing an application and preparing for questions. Thank you to staff and guests for assisting with interviews.

Pictured are Hannah Salmon and John Allison Active Schools Co-ordinator .

Christmas in the Secondary Library

The Secondary Library was looking particularly festive this year thanks to our Library Team and some kind donations of new decorations and a tree! The Library Team made some fantastic snowmen and a grinch using books and Miss Gibbon also held a Advent Calendar raffle each day.

Moffat Academy wins the Dumfries and Galloway Regional Safety Matters Campaign Competition!!

We decided to enter the Dumfries and Galloway Regional Safety Matters Campaign. The campaign challenged youth clubs and schools to create a piece of media which focused on front line workers and the growing abuse they receive whilst just doing their job. We made a video showing that front line workers are human too and deserve the same respect as everyone. We were so pleased to win the top prize of £1000 and can’t wait to spend the money on new equipment for the school.

The Drama Club

Here's our winning video:

//www.youtube.com/embed/EjKsB2BYa3o#t=0.5

Childcare Course Pop-up Party

Here are the girls on another day learning how to make playdough.

S4 Childcare Course

S3 History Pupils

S3 pupils re-created the Christmas Truce in the First World War by making some shortbread. Pictured are Samantha Tait, Emily Hume and Eleanor Dowson.

Weir Wise Engineering Workshop

Briony Bullard and Jessica Salmon S2 have both been successful in their applications for the WEIR WISE Engineering for girls Workshops at Strathclyde University. The event is very popular so congratulations to both girls on being accepted. They will be attending the two day workshop in the New Year, we look forward to hearing all about it!

Christmas Card Competition

S1 & S2 pupils were invited to create our official Moffat Academy Christmas Card and here are their fantastic results. Congratulations to 1st place winner, Briony Bullard, 2nd place Caitlin Stewart and 3rd place Erin Shannon.

Thank you to the Primary Pupil Council and Senior pupils for their votes.

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Regional Boccia Festival

The Regional Boccia Festival was held on 8th November at Dumfries and Galloway College. Twelve schools took part, with a total of 55 competitors, competing across the different age groups. Five pupils represented Moffat Academy.

Among them were Reece Paterson and James Gardinor, who both played well in all their games but finished just out of the medals. Also competing that day was Donald Kerner, who finished in first place in the senior age group and Abi Johnston who took third place in the same category. Robbie Paterson, who attended this event for the first time, finished in first place overall, in the S1 event.

A huge congratulations to our medal winners and to all pupils for taking part.

UNCRC Article 23 (children with a disability) A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. Governments must do all they can to support disabled children and their families.

Virtual Roman Political System Lecture

On Thursday 1st December some of our Higher Classical Studies and Higher Politics students attended a virtual lecture on the Roman Political System. Professor Holleran, a professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, gave students an overview of the importance of a clearly defined political system, looking at the three core components of the Roman structure: the senate, the magistrates and the people. Throughout the lecture, students identified parallels between the Roman system and the system we have today, evaluating its efficacy and considering whether any 'extinct' components of the Roman system could work.

All in all, this was a very interesting lecture - thank you to Professor Holleran and to all students who attended.

Article 29 (goals of education): Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

STEM Event S1 & S2

On Monday 28^th November, all S1 and S2 young people were involved in a half day STEM learning experience, run by the Engineering Development Trust. The Virtual Challenger Activity we chose was Artificial Intelligence. Young people were tasked with ‘Thinking like a Computer’, making a 3D Hologram Projector and taking part in a design challenge using what they had learnt about Facial Recognition and Virtual Reality. All pupils engaged well with the activities and were fascinated about Artificial Intelligence in the world around us!

UNCRC Article 29 (goals of education) Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

Senior Fundraiser Football Tournament

On Tuesday 30th November, Seniors organised a fantastic football tournament for anyone who would like to take part and to raise funds for Senior Fundraising. 9 teams took part and the winning team was Argentina who won 3-2 against Japan. Argentina's team included Elliott Hepburn, Mr Armstrong, Oliver McCaffery, Rory Hunter and Korey Stephenson. The seniors would like to thank all who participated, it was a great evening.

UNCRC Article 31 (leisure, play and culture) Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Hamilton and Iches - Watchmaker Trip

Senior Art and Design pupils visited luxury jeweller and jewellery designer Hamilton & Inches in Edinburgh. The company has held a royal warrant to the British monarch as goldsmiths, silversmiths, clock & watchmakers for over 120 years. During their visit pupils had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the craftspeople. This included helping to build part of a Rolex watch with the watchmakers. Chasing, engraving and soldering silverware with the silversmiths and learning how to pull and shape gold for exclusive engagement rings with the jewellery makers.

YOUTH MATTERS CONFERENCE 2nd November 2022

On Wednesday the 2nd November, Reece Paterson & Abi Johnston went by minibus/taxi to The Bridge in Dumfries to take part in a Youth Matters conference.

The conference was aimed specifically at young people with all kinds of abilities/disabilities from across Dumfries and Galloway, with the aim of trying to find out what our young people think and feel about the facilities, education and support that is available for them and what could be improved.

Our hosts for the day were the staff from “The Usual Place” who provided everyone with tea, coffee and lunch, and they also helped to facilitate in the groups. The day was split into different sessions and different groups, with a break in-between for a time to have a coffee and a chat. We had one session before lunch and then two sessions after lunch. Each group had a topic for discussion such as ‘friendships, relationships and sex education’, ‘employment’ or ‘how to achieve your potential and what gets in the way of it’.

Anti-Bullying Assembly

On Tuesday 15th November, senior pupils, Jessica Ryder and Catie Palmer delivered an assembly this morning to all S1-3 pupils as part of Anti-Bullying Week.

Here is a video that they showed from 'RespectMe' and their presentation is above.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_k5kj7inhY

UNCRC Article 19 (protection from violence, abuse and neglect)

Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.

Spike Aware UK

On Monday 14^th November at Moffat Academy, we welcomed Colin and Mandy Mackie who have formed the 'Spike Aware UK' campaign following the tragic loss of their son Greg. In 2017, Greg lost his life at only 18 years old, whilst studying at college in Edinburgh - this was as a result of a spiking incident. As a result of their heart-breaking loss, Colin and Mandy made the commitment to raise awareness of spiking, so that others could learn from this tragedy.

After speaking at a recent Moffat and District Community Council (MDCC) meeting, Colin was awarded £500 of funding to provide senior pupils at Moffat Academy with anti-spiking kits. The kits contain different sizes of lids which can be used to cover or insert into the tops of glass bottles, cans and cups to prevent harmful substances from being added to a drink.

Moffat Academy would like to say a huge thank you to Colin and Mandy for taking the time to come and share such a deeply personal story in order to promote awareness of this worrying issue to our senior pupils. Thank you also to our fantastic local Police representation, PC Irons and PC Glendinning for coming along to support the talk. Also, recognition goes to the Moffat and District Community Council for granting the funding for vital spiking prevention information kits and devices. For more information about this registered charity, please see: https://www.spikeawareuk.org/

Spike Aware UK

UNCRC Article 19 (protection from violence, abuse and neglect) Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.

Reading Success

Congratulations to some of our recent S1 & S2 Bronze and Silver Certificate achievers.

UNCRC Article 28 (right to education) Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free and different forms of secondary education must be available to every child.

Bag Pack and Raffle Success for Seniors

On the 29th and 30th of October, the Moffat Academy Seniors organised a bag pack and raffle at their local Moffat Co-Op to fundraise for 2023 Prom. The seniors were overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of the local community which helped them raise over £600! The winner of the raffle was Beryl Castle, thank you to all who participated.