Mintlaw Academy outscores national and shire averages

 

Mintlaw Academy.

Pupils at Mintlaw Academy surpassed themselves as the school continued to beat national and shire wide averages in key studies.

Figures released for the 2014/15 school term show that students at the academy have continued to improve on the year previous’ results in key areas like numeracy and literacy as well as positive destinations for those who have completed their studies.

Students leaving the school and achieving a positive destination – meaning employment, apprenticeships and further or higher education, rose from 93.4% to 96%, bringing it above the Aberdeenshire average of 95.6%.

 Local councillors welcomed the figures as they were presented to them at Tuesday’s Buchan Area Committee.
Jim Ingram, Councillor for Central Buchan, said: “It’s above the Aberdeenshire average and that is a positive in many respects.”
Norman Smith, also a Councillor for Central Buchan, said: “There is still a lot of work to be done and it is being done so I would like to thank you for that.”

The school has bettered national and shire averages at different levels in literacy and numeracy while continually outscoring it’s Virtual Comparator – a performance benchmarking tool based on the social and economic background of the academy.

The school has set out a long term improvement strategy to try and “re-define the ethos of the school and raise aspirations and expectations”.

The academy has also strengthened links with primary schools with a focus on numeracy.

Article from Buchan Observer by Sean O’Neil

Scottish Education Awards 2016

Nominations are now being sought for The Scottish Education Awards.  These are awards  to recognise the support and effort that teachers, school support staff, schools and also parents/carers put in to helping pupils achieve their potential.  Anyone can nominate a person for an award and  the various categories can be viewed at

 http://www.scottisheducationawards.org.uk/

 Nominations close at 12pm on Monday 15th February 2016.

Learn Together – Parent Conference Event

Learning Together, Mintlaw Academy’s first Parent Conference took place on Thursday 19th November 2015.

 Following a key note address from Mr Horberry, parents opted to attend up to three workshops/presentations on a wide variety of topics including Building Resilience, Internet Safely, Study Skills, Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, Teenage Mental Health, Substance Misuse, Technology in the Classroom, and a session led by local employers on the employability skills they look for in young people.  There were also presentations from pupils on Wider Achievement and volunteering opportunities within the curriculum, and displays from the Mintlaw Academy Parent Council and PTA.

Parents had an opportunity to visit department and faculty stands and displays, enjoy performances by Drama and Music Department pupils and to view the work of pupils in the Art Department.   The event was much appreciated by all who attended.

If you attended this conference we would be very grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to complete a quick survey about your experiences.  Your views will influence planning for similar events in the future and so your opinions are very important to us.  Please complete the survey by clicking on the link below.

Thank you

 https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PDKDWTZ

 

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Mintlaw Academy – Celebration of Engineering 2015

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The 2nd – 6th November 2015 is Mintlaw Academies Celebration of Engineering, engaging with Industry is seen as an important factor to enhance the curriculum with the Faculty of Technology.  Every pupil who has a class within the Faculty during this week will be given a presentation or take part in an activity either to help them with career options or to inspire them about Engineering.

 We have a range of contributors to the week who will all bring something different for the pupils.  Highlights of the week include visits and presentations from GE Oil and Gas Peterhead, an insight into the Carbon Capture and Storage project at Peterhead power station as well as the annual S2 Engineering Challenge delivered by NESCOL.

 This aims to be an enjoyable week for staff and pupils and hopefully the building of strong industrial relationships.

Mintlaw Academy presents at Offshore Europe 2015

Please click the link below to see how working in partnership with Shell our “Engineering Girls” are inspired by their course.

 

https://www.energyvoice.com/offshore-europe-2/87435/offshore-europe-2015-shell-inspires-young-women-to-eye-the-industrys-opportunities/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily%20newsletter%20new

Improvements to Online Payment for Cashless Catering in Secondary Schools

A letter has been sent out to all parents and carers of pupils registered at Secondary schools across Aberdeenshire in relation to the payment for school meals. School meal payments should be simpler following an upgrading to an improved system for online payments. This will help reduce administration and cash handling in schools and to improve the customer experience for parents and carers paying into the system, allowing balances and account history to be viewed.

The new system will require one off registration. See important details by clicking on the following link-

Cashless Catering in Secondary Schools and Online Payment Facility.

As far as the pupil experience will be concerned, there will be no difference for Secondary school pupils and online payments for Primary school pupils will be introduced during the coming academic year through a phased roll-out programme.

All Secondary schools have been transferring to the new system over the Summer holidays and this will be operational for the start of the new term. Any balances remaining at the end of the last school year (2014-15) will be automatically transferred across to the new system.

 

Aberdeenshire GIRFEC Website

I would like to draw your attention to the new Aberdeenshire GIRFEC website.  This is now the central way of containing information on GIRFEC for practitioners, young people and parents / carers.

It now means that information can be contained in one place and is intended to help everyone navigate through a complex landscape.

Please use the link below

http://www.girfec-aberdeenshire.org/

 

INSIGHT –

The Scottish Government provide schools with a statistical “toolkit” which enables teaching colleagues to access school performance data. Please see below for some interesting statistics.

  • Mintlaw Academy S6 Boys leaving 2013/14 -100% Positive Destinations (Insight Data) – this is 10% above the Aberdeenshire Average.
  • Mintlaw Academy S4 Girls leaving in 2013/14 – 100% Positive Destinations (Insight Data) – this is 15% above the Aberdeenshire Average.
  • 85% of Mintlaw Academy S6 Girls  left to go to Further Education compared to 69% Aberdeenshire Average
  • 82% of Mintlaw Academy  S6 Boys left to go to Higher Education compared to 62% Aberdeenshire Average
  • 27% of Mintlaw Academy S5 Boys left to Higher Education compared to 9% Aberdeenshire Average !

Clearly Mintlaw ranks amongst one of the best performing in the region.

Adverse Weather Arrangements

Information for Parents

Aberdeenshire school closure information

Help your child learn at home

Scholar Parental Leaflet

Mintlaw Celebrates Success Programme

Awards Ceremony programme

 

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