June 2017

PRESTWICK

ACADEMY

Prestwick Academy

Young Musician of the Year 2017

On Tuesday 28th March the music department held their first Young Musician of the

Year Competition. It was a great success with all of the finalists giving outstanding

performances. Three adjudicators had the difficult task of deciding who should win.

While they were doing so there were many different musical performances for the

audience to enjoy, including an excerpt from the school show ‘Hairspray’ and

performances from the winner and runner up of the Young Singer of the Year

Competition which was held in November. The Wind Band and String Quartet also

played excellently showcasing their work from this term.

Junior Winner: Saxophone Senior Winner: Violin

Junior Runner Up: Violin

Joint Senior Runners Up: Cello and Guitar Well done to all Finalists

Sign Language History Made

Lauchlan Connelly S1 rom Prestwick Academy was on the pitch at Hampden for Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on 26th March but he was not a mascot, or even a ballboy,

Lauchlan was making history becoming the first ever person to sign the national anthem at a Scotland International football match.

It was a memorable night for Lauchlan, who signed his way perfectly through “Flower of

Scotland” despite being in front of thousands of fans and live on TV!

He said: “It was the best experience of my life so far. It was nerve-wracking but exciting too. I was scared and took a deep breath and when I looked down I saw the camera and felt like a

superstar”

Lauchlan first learned sign language at primary school and although he has no problem

speaking, he wanted to make sure he could communicate with other deaf people.

Douglas Hutchison, Director of Educational Services at South Ayrshire Council said: “Congratulations to Lauchlan, it was a great experience for him and he did brilliantly despite the nerves. We are always keen to support our young people to realise their ambitions and impair-ment should be no barrier to this. I would like to thank Lauchlan’s teachers for their support and

the SFA for arranging this special moment.”

Lauchlan could well become Scotland’s lucky talisman! He has been asked to sign the national anthem at the next 3 home games against England, Malta and Slovakia in October.

Under 13 Football

Congratulations to the Under 13 Football team on winning the League Cup and also the Ayrshire and District Cup.

Down Syndrome Open European Championships

Cerys McCrindle S3 competed in the Down Syndrome Open European Championships in Southampton in April.

She won Gold for her first time competing in 100m Freestyle, gaining a personal best and now qualifies to compete for Team GB in European

Championships in Paris at the end of October ! She also gained 3 thirds and 2 fourths. She is now training for the Special Olympics taking place in

August in Sheffield and then Paris .

Ayrshire Chess Association Ayrshire Junior Chess League 2017

The Ayrshire Junior Chess League was held over two Thursday evenings on 2nd and 16th March 2017 and played at Greenwood Academy in Irvine. This year there were eight teams playing in the tournament each with four players representing schools and chess clubs from across Ayrshire. Teams came from Corsehill Primary (Kilwinning), Glebe Primary School (Irvine), Whitehirst Park Primary (Kilwinning), Prestwick Chess Club, Stewarton Chess Club and a team from the hosts Greenwood Academy (Irvine). The tournament was well contested this year with only half a point between top three teams and a tie for first place meant a tiebreak had to be applied

Final placings were as follows: 1st place - Glebe Primary

2nd place - Corsehill Primary Team “A” 3rd place - Prestwick

4th place - Greenwood 5th place - Stewarton

6th place - Corsehill Primary Team “B” 7th place - Whitehirst Primary

8th place - Corsehill Primary Team “C”

Scottish Schools Athletics Association Championships

Congratulations to Andrew Peck S6 who competed in the Scottish Schools Athletics Association Championships at Grangemouth on 10th and 11th June. Andrew won a gold medal in shot put with a distance of 12.86m using a 6kg shot and also a gold medal in discus with a distance of 47.33m using a 1.75kg discus, this was a personal best with that weight.

Scottish Tetrathlon

Junior Regional Moreton Morrell 2017

Congratulation to Claire Cunningham S2 and Jenny Bell S2 who both acquitted themselves very well proving invaluable members of the Scottish team both successfully negotiating what was a very tricky XC course. The Scotland A team secured a very creditable 2nd place in this competition on 2nd June.

Tesco Bank Art Competition

Congratulations to Evan Lafferty 3H1 who has been awarded a Special Merit in the Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools 2017.

The competition received over 7,700 entries from all over Scotland, so to be amongst the winners is a major achievement.

The winning entries will be framed and displayed at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – Modern ONE, from 10 June – 24 September 2017. The exhibition will then go on tour to Eastwood Park Theatre Gallery, Giffnock and Gracefield Arts

Centre, Dumfries until spring 2018.

A selection of works will feature on postcards and a calendar. These will be for sale in the National Galleries of Scotland shops and a copy of the calendar will be sent to every school in Scotland later in the year.

National STEM Celebration

On Friday 16th June the STEM group attended the National STEM Celebration at Glasgow Science Centre. The team had a great day out and did a fantastic job at presenting their projects to the judges. They competed in the Construct a Crane Challenge, which they had built , and worked with lots of companies in mini challenges.

Dates for the Diary

Monday 19th June School Show - Hairspray

Tuesday 20th June School Show - Hairspray

Wednesday 21st June School Show - Hairspray

Wednesday 28th June Close at 1pm for Summer Holiday

Thursday 17th August Pupils Return