Dear Parent
After 18 years and 74 previous editions it is with mixed feeling that I find myself writing my final newsletter as Headteacher of Harris Academy.
It has been both a privilege and an honour to lead the school and have the opportunity to contribute to the development of young people in the West End of Dundee.
There is no doubt that I will miss the day to day contact with young people and the stimulus provided by working with professional colleagues of the calibre currently teaching in Harris Academy. It is however I feel time to hand over to someone who is able to develop, support and sustain the long term vision for the school and is able to expand and develop the Harris ethos in the new and ground-breaking learning environment which will open in August 2016 on Perth Road.
I have enjoyed being part of your community and been thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the children. I thank you for your support and leave you with every good wish for the future and move on with enormous pride in having had the opportunity to serve you as Head Teacher.
MATHS
Maths Challenge Competitions
Once again our pupils had a lot of success in these tough competitions and everyone who took part must be praised for representing the maths department and the school so well with their excellent contributions.
Scottish Maths Challenge
The Scottish Mathematical Challenge is a problem solving competition aimed at individual pupils in Scottish secondary schools and upper primary schools (mainly P7). The main aim of this competition is to promote mathematics as a source of interest and pleasurable achievement. Our pupils were asked to solve two sets of five thought-provoking questions for example:
“In a town some of the animals are really strange. Ten percent of the cats think they are dogs, and ten percent of the dogs think they are cats. All the other cats and dogs are perfectly normal. One day I tested all the cats and dogs in the town and found that 20% of them thought that they were cats.
What percentage of them really were cats?”
We have 3 award winners this year.
They are Aziz El-Haram, Poppy Conway and Rosa Holm-Huxley.
Overall, Aziz scored 34/40, Poppy 26/40 and Rosa 21/40 giving our pupils gold, silver and bronze awards respectively.
UKMT Maths Challenge
Pupils from our school achieved 2 golds, 11 silvers and 24 bronzes in this year’s UKMT Maths Challenges. Over 300,000 pupils from across the UK sat these with roughly 6% receiving gold, 13% silver and 21% bronze.
This is run by the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds and challenges some of our pupils to compete with pupils from some of the best schools in the UK.
S1
SILVER
Andrew Young, Alexandra Knebel, Aziz El Haram, Fraser Taylor and Peter Martin
BRONZE
Zahra Hassam, Poppy Conway, Laura Low, Rosa Holm-Huxley, Josh Muir, Anushka Waugh Glover, Rosie Dignan, Nyorin Islam, Travis Orchison and William Monk.
Andrew Young also received the certificate for best in year.
S2
SILVER
Craig McDonald and Shun Him Wong
BRONZE
Gregor Trickett, Eve Warden, Shaun Ellis, Damon McKenna, Bella Ackerley, Keigan Nicoll, Matthew Norrie and Elliot Tosh
Craig McDonald also received the certificate for best in year.
S3
GOLD
Tobias Gartner
SILVER
Chris Hayes and Zoe Matheson
BRONZE
Arran Roy, Patrice Netto, Oscar Holm-Huxley and Heather McDonald
Tobias Gartner also received the certificate for best in year.
S4
GOLD
Erin McKay
SILVER
Thomas Van Aalten and Morgan Kane
BRONZE
Dylan Ackerley and Lucy Stocks
Erin McKay also received the certificate for best in year.
The Maths department would like to thank the Harris Parent Teacher Pupil Association for financing the UKMT competitions again as the entry fees amount to a substantial cost every year.
The pupils’ preparation and participation in these competitions is one of the reasons that Harris again keeps up its high levels of attainment in maths.
Well done to all who took part and congratulations to all the award winners.
Hockey
The hockey club completed a successful season winning four out of five of the Active Schools competitions. The S4 –S6 team won the outdoor league, outdoor cup and indoor cup while the S1-S3 team won the indoor cup and finished 3rd in the outdoor league. The S1-S2 team competed in the Tayside Regional Cup in May and won bronze medals.
During the Easter holiday Finlay Wright (S6) and Duncan McNicoll (S5) achieved UKCC Hockey Coaching awards at Level 1 and they have both umpired and coached at S1-S3 competitions and training sessions.
Harris Academy FP Hockey Club have linked with the school and our associated primary schools to provide weekly coaching sessions both outdoors and indoors. At the end of May the FP Club were awarded the Sheila Tennant Award for Youth Endeavour. Coaching sessions restart in August at the Dundee University all weather pitch at Riverside and during December and January coaching sessions will move indoors to the Lynch Centre.
The club is open to boys and girls from S1 to S6 and also pupils from our associated primary schools. Anyone interested in attending should see Mr Martin, Maths Department.
Congratulations to Hazel Bengough who won the prestigious Burgess Writing Competition. Entries from S3 pupils across Dundee secondary schools were welcomed and three finalists were identified. At a reception in City Square, Hazel read her essay and she was then told she had been awarded first place. Her essay was published in the Dundee Courier the next day. A fantastic achievement and we wish her every success in her writing career.
Rock Climbing
Last term due to pupil interest we had a weekly rock climbing club at Avertical World to prepare for the Scottish Schools Rock Climbing Competition Grand Final. Five of our pupils qualified and we achieved considerable success for our first year of entering:- Megan Phin S5/6 Girls Third Place, Arran Roy S3/4 Boys Third Place, Alix Crosby-Bairstow S1/2 Girls Fourth Place, Oscar Holm-Huxley S3/4 Boys Lead Rope Fourth Place & Gregor Trickett S1/2 Boys Fifth Place. Well done to all involved and to Jessica Trickett for her assistance leading up to the competition.
Harris Academy Ski Team
Harris Academy entered three teams into the Scottish Schools qualifier at Glenshee on the 25th February 2015. Although none of the teams qualified for the Scottish Schools Championships there was still some great skiing and crashes displayed by the Harris pupils. Well done everyone for a fantastic day!
Athletics
Scottish Schools
Katy Patullo and Michael Tarnawsky represented the school at Scottish Schools Atheltics Championship. Michael was 8th in the 100m final and Katy was runner up in the 400m hurdles, 100m hurdles and the high jump
Dundee Schools
The following were placed in the Dundee Schools Athletics Championship
S1
Annabelle Smith – 3rd 100m
S2
Sean Morrison – Runner up 100m
S3
Jonny McLeish – Winner 100m and 200m
Arran Roy – Winner Discus
Sara Keracher – 2nd 1500m, 2nd in Long Jump and 3rd in 800m
Megan Essery – 3rd in Shot Putt
Senior
Katy Patullo – 2nd in 200m and 3rd 100m
Isobel Simpson 3rd in 200m and 2nd in Long Jump
Shania King – Winner of 800m
Isabel Remers – 2nd 800m
Michael Tarnawsky – 2nd in 100m and 2nd in 200m
Relays
2nd year boys – 3rd
3rd year boys – 3rd
Senior girls – winners
3rd year girls – 2nd
1st year girls – 3rd
S2 Football
The S2 football team have made a strong start to their football season, topping the league at the half way stage. They have played five games so far, winning three and losing two. The team have two remaining league games to play before the top four split off into the Champions League and are expected to reach this. The team also have the Tannadice Cup to play for, hoping for the chance to play on the home of Dundee United. It has been a solid start to the season and hopefully this can continue after Christmas.
Senior Football
After a slow start in their first game, the senior football team have gone onto top their league before the Christmas. After defeat to Grove, the team went on to record victories against Baldragon, Craigie, Braeview, Morgan and Monifieth. The boys also played last year’s treble winners Menzieshill, losing 4-3 in the last minute after being 3-1 up which was extremely disappointing. The boys are aiming to make the Champions League and make amends for their two defeats and hope to reach the Tannadice Cup final to mark off a successful year.
Water Polo
Harris Academy’s senior Water Polo team were crowned National champions in the Scottish Schools Water Polo Championship, held at St Margaret’s Academy in Livingston.
Harris seniors opened the tournament with a 7-1 victory against the hosts, St Margaret's, followed by a 5-0 win againstJamesGillespies of Edinburgh. This ensured a quarter final tie against former winners of the tournament, Heriots. A great victory for Harrisset up a repeat of last years final, where Harris faced off against local rivals Grove, eventually defeating them 2-1 after a tense, physical battle. This set up a final against Portobello, who's squad consisted of many club,Scottish and even Great British squad players. For school water polo, the final was of the highest standard. Harris defended excellently tokeep Portobello to a marginal 2-1 lead at half time. An excellent, deep end attacking display put Harris 4-3 in front with just 2 seconds left on the clock. A bit of defensive confusion at the goal restart meant the Portobello attacker had a clear shot fromhalf way which, despite an excellent goalkeeping display from S1 Nick Parsons, hit off the crossbar and crossed the line on the buzzer. This meant that the match would be settled on penalties. An early missed penalty from Portobello put Harris in front, before Harris missed their 4th penalty to set upa sudden death situation. Jake Muir, another S1 pupil, calmly scored his penalty before the Portobello player missed to ensure that once again the Scottish Open Championship would return to Dundee.
Well done to the team of
Jack Robertson, Lucy Robertson, Robert Reid, Josh Muir, Nick Parsons, Ben Parsons, Alix Finlayson, Jake Muir, Duncan Johnston, Anna Taylor, Sam Muir (c), Gregor Trickett, Callum McDonald, Callum Bolton
Trampolining
Since February we have had a weekly S2-S5 Trampolining club which culminated in the Dundee Schools Competition. Some pupils attend for fun and others were unable to compete therefore our competition team was reduced in number. We had three entries and Abbi Rodley received an Individual bronze medal and the team of Abby Grant, Caitlin Whelan and Abbi secured third place in the team event. Well done girls!
Volleyball
Volleyball runs on a Monday night and is mainly senior pupils who come along to develop their skills and play for fun. Many use this as their practical activity for Duke of Edinburgh and as such is more focussed on cooperation and developing social skills rather than purely performance.
S1 Fundraiser for SCBU
On Friday 29th May 2015 we held an old school fancy dress sports day with 1B and 1K to raise funds for the Special Care Baby Unit (S.C.B.U.) at Ninewells Hospital. The idea was presented to the PE Department by Molly Gibb in FK10 who has personal experience of the unit and wanted to raise funds and awareness of the important work that they do. The pupils were fantastic and thanks to everyone who collected sponsor money and handed in donations. The total raised was a very generous £625!
FP Burns Supper
A number of pupils performed at this year’s FPs’ Burns Supper in the Invercarse Hotel in January. FPs were entertained by Scott MacKenzie and Fraser Taylor on Fiddle; an arrangement by Scott MacKenzie performed by Scott, Morgan Kane and Eve Brebner; Beth wood singing ‘Ye Banks and Braes’. The FPs commented on the quality of music from our pupils – well done to all involved!
Dundee Rotary Young Vocalist of the Year competition
Ava Hickey, Anna Bryan and Juliet Barclay took part in the first Dundee Rotary Club Young Vocalist of the Year competition. Well done to Ava who was selected to go through to the regional round of the competition (1 of 5 girls selected), which took place in Perth.
Dundee Schools Competitions
Adam Campbell, Lena Swedlow, Pui Kei Wong, Ava Hickey, Anna Bryan, Charlotte Robb, Fin Avison, Juliet Barclay and Lewis Petrie took part in the Dundee Instrumentalist and Vocalist of the Year competitions. Well done to all involved and to Adam, Pui Kei and Ava who got through to the final competitions.
Guitar Workshop
A number of guitar pupils took part in a workshop with the fantastic guitarist John Goldie. This was organised by Mr. Cannon our guitar teacher and run in conjunction with secondary schools across the city. The pupils worked with John Goldie during the day and performed a concert at night.
Woodwind Masterclass
3 of our pupils took part in a woodwind masterclass organised by Dundee Chamber Music – Hazel Bengough, Adam Campbell and Andrew Cummins. Alison Green, bassoonist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, offered advice to these pupils along with pupils from other Dundee schools. Thank you to Mrs. Hamilton for organising this for our pupils.