LALARRKKHHAALLLL AACCAADDEEMMYY Newsletter - Issue 83 - 1 May 2020In line with advice received from both the Scottish and national governments, all South Lan-arkshire schools and nurseries closed to pupils on Friday 20 March.Due to the challenging and uncertain times that we are experiencing, SQA also stated at thistime that the 2020 Exam Diet for S4-S6 learners could now not go ahead. They have recentlyannounced an alternative certification model which will be used this year in order that all ourlearners get the qualifications which they deserve.All teachers at Larkhall Academy are working hard to provide continued education to ourlearners in all year groups. Classwork and activities can be accessed daily by all students byusing their Google Classroom. Children of keyworkers are being accommodated every daywithin the local Hub facilities which are being staffed by teachers from across the authority. Itis important that our students continue their education during this period but it is equally im-portant that we all stay safe and well.Newsletter 1

Headteacher’s MessageDear Parents, Carers and Families,This is perhaps the most unusual newsletter we will eversend out, given the current circumstances. With all schoolsclosed and no indication of when we are likely to return, con-tinuing to provide education is proving to be one of the greatchallenges for this generation of teachers and pupils.The odd snow day, when school is cancelled, can sometimes provide a bit of funand joy, but this extended period of absence is a completely different scenarioand I know that most young people (and families) are keen to get back to a senseof “normality” as soon as possible.The priority for everyone at this time is to ensure wellbeing. Eating healthily, exer-cising regularly, maintaining a daily routine and keeping in contact with each otherprovides a strong basis for our wellbeing.Trying to do all of this is, of course, much harder than it sounds. It is importantthat our school staff are able to provide support and advice where necessary. Iknow that our Pupil Support staff have been in touch with many families and I amgrateful for their input. Please get in contact if there is anything we can help with.Our Twitter account and website have lots of information on wellbeing and sup-porting and understanding young people. Our learning is best when our wellbeingis good so please continue to focus on wellbeing.Our staff have been working hard to get materials online for all pupils. It’s not aneasy task to provide resources for around 1100 young people who are not in thebuilding! Thank you for your patience and feedback which is helping us to makethings better day by day.Finally, our school values of kindness, togetherness and resilience will help us allto focus on what is important. I’m hopeful it won’t be too long before we are all re-connected and back in our school building.My best wishes to you all.Andrew L SmithHeadteacherNewsletter 2

Pupil SupportAll of our Larkhall Academy staff team are working to provide activities and lessons for our pupilsin these unusual times but in addition to this, our Pupil Support and Additional Support Needsstaff are still available to support pupils and their families at this difficult time. We hope you are allsafe and well and learning new skills while working from home. You will see from this magazinethat staff are learning new things too. In these challenging times we need to be resilient, be kind toourselves and others and really work well together, but this is not always easy to do. Pupils andparents, if you need to talk to us or need information, advice or support, please contact the PupilSupport/ASN team by emailing the confidential Pupil Support drop box -. [email protected] can support you in many ways, some of our recent enquiries have included help with: wellbeing advice free school meals, foodbank, food drops resources sanitary products ICT support and support with learning help for school leavers advice for those who are ill, hardship, bereaved google classroom sleeping patternsNo matter what you need, just contact us and we will do our best to help you. Here is some other useful information to support you at this difficult time Psychological Services helpline: Mon-Fri 10-3 pm 01698455800 or [email protected] SLC Wellbeing helpline: 0303 123 1009 and the opening hours are as follows: Monday to Thursday 8.45 am – 4.45 pm Friday 8.45 am – 4.15 pm Saturday and Sunday 8.45 am – 4.45 pmHeadspace is an app which allows you to learn the essentials of meditation and mindfulness. Youcan use the \"basic\" course for free and complete mindfulness each day. This can be downloadedon Google Play or the App store. You can also find out more information at www.headspace.comSleep Tips for Teenagers: Find out more about tiredness and fatigue, tips for sleep and the im-portance of it. Access information from NHS at www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness Link for the Listening Programme - enjoy it for 15 minutes every day and it is free until 31 May! https://tlp.advancedbrain.com/signup/pricing.jsp?fbclid=IwAR2AEQ003zjS6Rh3gt79hGJBGiN6aiYwlqe7l9vgwFbD- CPPvyevsStDONg https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/the-google-classroom-cheat-sheets-for-teachers-and-students/Newsletter 3

Learning from HomeS1 and S2 Learning ….Mr Smith-Dempsey (Acting DHT) has put together a schedule to help parents to continue to sup-port their child’s learning during school closure. He has therefore produced a suggested learningschedule for S1 and S2 pupils. This contains four lessons of roughly forty minutes for eachschool day. There are also many more activities that pupils can choose to work on in addition tothis.Please do not feel under any pressure to follow the schedule when your circumstances make thisdifficult; it is there to help you when you want to offer more routine to your child’s learning.From Monday April 27, new lessons will be made available online at the start of each weekthrough Google Classroom. For Science, pupils should continue to work through the documentsalready located within Google Classroom.While there are suggested daily schedules, the lessons will be available all week and can becompleted at any time. You can find the suggested weekly and daily schedules below.If you have any questions regarding online learning please contact your Pupil Support teacherand they will be happy to help. Their e-mails are available on the school website.Suggested Weekly Schedule for S1 /S2:• P.E. - Daily Exercise Activities• Maths lessons - 3 per week• English lessons - 3 per week• Social Subjects - 3 per week• DLE lessons - 2 per week• Science lessons - 3 per week• Modern Languages lessons - 2 per week• Art lesson - 1 per week• Drama lesson - 1 per week• Technical lesson - 1• Home Economics lesson - 1 per week• Music lesson - 1 per week• PSHE lesson - 1 per week• Private Reading - the pupils should read a book of their choice for at least 20 mins per day• Additional project work of their own choosing can also be undertaken during the day MONDAY Maths lesson 1 DLE Lesson 1 Art Science Lesson 1 TUESDAYSuggested Daily English lesson 1 Social Subjects Modern Languages Drama PHSE Timetable WEDNESDAY THURSDAY Lesson 1 Lesson 1 Maths Lesson 2 Technical English Lesson 2 DLE Lesson 2 Music Lesson Maths Lesson 3 Science Lesson 2 Home Economics FRIDAY English Lesson Social Subjects Modern Languages Science Lesson 3 3 Lesson 2 Lesson 2Newsletter 4

Learning from HomeDigital Literacy and Enterprise - S1-S2During this period of digital learning, all learners in S1-S2 have beenchallenged to take part in the Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award,known as the iDEA Award. This is an international programme inwhich the students in S1 and S2 can develop their digital, enterpriseand employability skills for free. Through a series of online challenges, they can win career-enhancing badges and unlock new opportunities which will gain them a certificated award at theend of their learning.iDEA is the digital and enterprise equivalent of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Bronze is be-ginner, Silver intermediate and Gold advanced. The iDEA Bronze Award and iDEA Silver Awardare available now, and Gold will be released in due course.Whilst working through this award pupils from Larkhall Academy have to complete badges fromthe following areas:• CITIZEN BADGES - students study digital awareness, safety and ethics.• WORKER BADGES - students cover tools and techniques which are useful in the work- place, and employability skills.• MAKER BADGES - students learn about digital creativity and building and making in the digital world.• ENTREPRENEUR BADGES - students learn how to originate ideas and bring them to life.• GAMER BADGES - students develop Gamification techniques and learn how to make games. Each Badge earns the learners points. To gain the Bronze Award, students must achieve 250 points and to gain the Silver Award they must gain 400 points. The students have been asked to complete a minimum of two badges a week up to a maximum of 5 badges. It would be great to see as many Bronze certificates for our students as we can by the end of June.English - S1–S6Pupils in English are learning in a variety of ways duringlockdown. Each year group has a Google Classroom wherereading, writing and listening tasks are uploaded every week.Pupils have also been encouraged to learn in new ways fromfollowing Frank Cottrell Boyce’s live Instagram workshops on Creative Writing, towatching National Theatre productions at home on Thursdays and accessing the mil-lions of free books available on Audible to maintain their 20 minutes reading a day!Newsletter 5

Learning from HomeScience DepartmentMaterials for all science pupils are available as follows:S1 (Soon to be S2)All materials for learning on-line are stored on Google Classroom. Pupils are working on 3 topics(Organs and Basic Needs, Chemical Reactions and Electricity). Each topic has a 'What I shouldknow' sheet full of links to videos, interactive websites and more. Pupils should learn throughthese, then consolidate their learning by completing the homework questions and self-assessingthese. At the end of each topic, they will complete an online assessment.S2 (Soon to be S3)Pupils will be placed into their new Google Classrooms where the Biology,Chemistry and Physics teachers will be posting weekly lessons and tasks.S3 (Soon to be S4)Pupils are continuing with their N4 and N5 courses though resources which have been uploadedto Google Classroom. All pupils will be given access to Scholar where additional resources foreach science subject can be found.New S5 / S6All pupils should be consolidating their learning as if they are still preparing for theexam - if they are returning to the subject for the next level of study, they shouldcomplete the course on scholar and submit their best past paper score to theirteacher. New courses will start mid-May so that pupils have time to refine theirknowledge and skills before moving up to the next level.Remote Learning in the Health and Wellbeing FacultyAll learners have had the opportunity to learn from home by engaging with weekly 6tasks in Home Economics, Physical Education and Healthy Lifestyles. Thesetasks are available on Twitter and Google Classroom and our pupils have alsobeen given a thinking task and a practical task for each week of our schools clo-sure.In addition to this, subject teachers have continued to provide lessons to their ex-isting timetabled classes and been providing feedback to pupils. Examples ofthese activities include online cookery lessons, exercise sessions, housekeepingtasks and learning about nutrition and sports performance. Both staff and pupilshave also participated in a nationwide fitness drive called the 2.6 Olympian Chal-lenge. This involved all participants taking part in a 26 minute workout which hadbeen made up by 26 Olympians who all provided 1 minute of exercise each.Newsletter

Learning from HomeLearning Maths during LockdownThe Maths department have prepared work for S1-S6 which is outlined on the school website us-ing this link https://www.larkhall.s-lanark.sch.uk/S1-S6-Working-from-home/They have set up Google Classrooms to provide lessons. All Google Classrooms are managed bythe following staff and pupils should have been added to the appropriate one:Current S1: Miss Johnston & Mrs GallacherCurrent S2: Mr BrownNew S4:National 5: Mr Somers/Mrs HayNational 4: Mr GrayNational 3: Miss GovanNew S5/6:Introduction to Advanced Higher: Mrs Hannah/Mr SomersIntroduction to Higher: Miss Govan/Mr SomersNational 5: Mr Somers/Mrs HayPersonal Finance: Mr Brown/Mr MitchellIntroduction to National 5 Applications of Maths: Mrs GallacherIf pupils find that they are not in a Google Classroom or they think they may be in the wrongGoogle Classroom please email [email protected] ArtsBoth the Higher and Nat 5 Google Classrooms for Music have been updatedwith links to Understanding Music lessons which pupils can undertake at home.The department is also using the Performing Arts Twitter site on a regular basisto post other tasks, challenges and lessons which pupils can use.S1-S3 pupils are also being set Home Challenges on a regular basis where they have to learnto play different music melodies using a piano simulator app on their phones, tablets or comput-ers. The current challenge which was issued on Monday 27 April for a period of 2 weeks is: We would like you to participate in #clapforkeyworkers by learn- ing to play ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’. Parts and backing tracks are on Google Classroom. No instruments required!Newsletter 7

Learning from HomeMODERN LANGUAGESIn the Modern Languages department teachers have been setting assign-ments for pupils and creating PowerPoints on a range of different topics forS1-S3 pupils using their current study areas as well as introducing newones.Pupils have been completing reading, writing and listening tasks. With thisextra time on her hands, Miss Holmes has been able to get recordings fromnative French and Spanish people, so that the pupils can listen to native accents from bothmales and females.They have also set up a ML Twitter page which has so far shared activities that the staff mem-bers have undertaken during lockdown the lockdown period. They have been walking their dogsor reading in the garden and have uploaded videos of these activities and narrated them in thetarget language. They have used Google Forms to create quizzes for their learners which have been successful as a lot of pupils across the BGE and senior phase have engaged with these. Assignments will be set for all year groups weekly and notifications will be uploaded to Twitter about the assignments. Finally they have created a new Google Classroom for S4, 5 and 6 pupils for both French and Spanish. Pu- pils can access these codes on their current google classroom or get in touch with a member of staff by e-mail if they have any problems.STAFF LEARN TOOOver 70 staff attended our very first Larkhall Academy virtual TeachMeet. We had an amazingline up of colleagues who agreed to give a short input on how they have used digital to supporthome learning. A flavour of the content included Google Classroom, giving feedback, makinguse of video and YouTube, creating a simple website and creating online quizzes to supportlearning at home.Newsletter 8

Learning from HomeArt, Design and Technology FacultyWe hope that everyone is keeping safe and well at home. We can’t wait until we’re all back inschool and able to work with you all again!! Until then work is being posted on Google Classroomfor all our pupils to keep their skills and knowledge fresh and ongoing as they work from home.Pupils can complete assignments using the Google suite of programs available on Glow, or cantake photos of their work to share with their teacher. All pupils have now been invited to theirspecific classes, so please make sure you accept the invitation to join the classrooms in the fac-ulty if you have not already done so.You can keep up to date on Google Classroom or find us on Twitter @LarkyADTTECHNICALS1/2 TechnicalMiss Ryder has been posting Graphics videos to help pupils with their freehand sketching. Prac-tise, practise, practise! As we continue through the rest of term there will also be opportunities tolearn about tools and materials that we use in the workshop through a variety of activities.S3 Graphic Communication (new S4)Mr Gosling has been posting work for our Graphics pupils starting with Building Drawings. MrGosling will continue to provide tasks to build further skills during the term as we move into S4.S3 Design and Manufacture (new S4)Miss Ryder will be working with the class over the coming weeks building on the knowledgegained with Mrs Thomace. We will be starting off with Metals and will be exploring Design Fac-tors, Materials, and Manufacturing Techniques as we move into S4.S3 Practical Woodwork (new S4)Although we’re disappointed that we can’t take part in our normal practical lessons atthe moment, Mr Stringer has been creating work to allow our Woodworkers to put theirknowledge to the test and get them ready for S4. Pupils will be learning about Measuring andMarking out Tools, the Woodwork Lathe, and Machine and Power Tools among others.New S5/6 Graphic CommunicationMr Gosling has been posting work for our Graphics pupils starting with Building Drawings. MrGosling will continue to post work on topics such as Design Elements & Principles, and DrawingStandards & Conventions as we progress through the term. We are delighted that somany of our S4 pupils have returned for S5, and look forward to working with all ourpupils– we hope you enjoy it as much Mr Gosling and Miss Ryder!New S5/6 Practical WoodworkMr Frame has been providing work for our new senior Woodworkers. Although we’re not able todo practical work with you just now, we hope if you tackle the tasks set, you will come back toschool as knowledgeable as a Master Woodworker and apply your knowledge into your practicalmodels. Topics covered will include Types of Woods, Woodwork Joints and Benchwork Tools.Newsletter 9

Learning from HomeArt, Design and Technology FacultyART & DESIGNS1/2 Art and DesignWe will be posting work up during this term to allow you to keep up your drawing skills as well aslearning about new Artists and Designers. We’ve had some fantastic work being completed al-ready!S3 Art and Design (new S4)Each S3 class is getting work set by their individual teacher to get them ready to move into S4.Pupils will be learning about Artists and Designers and will be given assignments based arounddifferent pieces of artwork. Pupils will use their knowledge of the visual elements and differentmedia to tackle these assignments. Pupils will also be able to complete some drawing tasks topractise and improve their skills.S5 Art and DesignMrs Bernstein, Mr Phillips and Miss Rourke will be providing work forour new senior pupils. We’re delighted to see so many pupils contin-uing with Art this year. Pupils will be taking part in a variety of tasksincluding learning about Artists and Designers, researching a DesignBrief, as well as continuing with drawing skills for Expressive.Advanced Higher ArtMrs Bernstein has been introducing pupils to Advanced Higher Art and will be posting workthroughout the term. Mrs Bernstein will be working with pupils individually to decide on which dis-cipline they will focus on this year - Design or Expressive. Pupils will complete assignmentsbased on their chosen discipline as they research the theme for their portfolios this year. This is afantastic course and we can’t wait to see what you create!! Larkhall Academy Visit our website on: https://www.larkhall.s-lanark.sch.ukNewsletter 10

Lockdown ActivitiesDuring this period of lockdown, it is important for everyone to look after both their mental andphysical health. So what have our staff members been up to during this period? Mr Alan Brown from the Maths De- Miss Kirsten Donaldson from partment has been doing volunteering the Pupil Support and History de- for SLC. He is assigned to a local phar- partments has been learning to macy and each day he gets a few pre- play the guitar! She is pretty sure scription details. He then goes to pick however, that everyone is sick of them up and delivers the medication to hearing the Beatles song “Love Me the old and vulnerable in the after- Do” – which is the only thing she noons around South Lanarkshire. has mastered so far!Señorita Dunn está aprendiendoespañol. (Miss Megan Dunn from the Science Depart- ment is learning Spanish).She has also been colouring inwhich she finds very therapeutic.Mrs Donna Ralston from the Home Economics Department has beendoing a lot of cooking she has also turned her conservatory into a sewingroom where she has been making scrubs for the NHS. Mr Elred McNeice from the Mr Jim Divers from the DLE de- PE department has been re- partment has been learning how to cording some fantastic music use Snap Camera. with his wife Sheryl and his children. Their own versions of ‘More than Words’ by Extreme and ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton are fantastic and can be heard on social media. You can see that Sheryl has also given Mr McNeice a ‘Lockdown haircut’!!Newsletter 11

Lockdown ActivitiesSome more lockdown activities from the staff at Larkhall Academy ……………………. Mrs Patricia Bushby from the Ms Kayleigh Blair from the Modern Languages department is a RMPS department has been able to volunteer helper for the Stonehouse visit her horses Renaldo and Meat- Coronavirus village support team loaf at lunchtimes. It appears that who are delivering prescriptions to they still need a few lessons in so- the elderly. This project ‘A Helping cial distancing however. Hand’ has been set up and is co- ordinated by Paige Easton who is a youth and community worker within the school and the local area. Mrs Bushby has also been working with Spark Connections which is a local social enterprise which was set up to help reduce isolation amongst young adults with additional support needs.So what are our pupils doing during this lockdown period?Mrs Fiona Ballantyne from the DLE Department has been spending lots of time outside, helping athome on the farm and working in the garden. She has also been walking lots in the countryside. Miss Laura Grant from the 12 English Department has been spending lockdown working in her garden and is proud to show off her beautiful spring border. She has also read 14 books and has listened to 5 audio- books on her daily walks with her parents’ dog which she has kidnapped for company during this lockdown period.Newsletter

Lockdown ActivitiesSome more lockdown activities from the staff at Larkhall Academy ……………………. A hand-painted ‘lockdown decora- tion’ by Mrs Jane McPartlin - Support Assistant A first attempt at an Oreo cheesecake by Miss Hannah Shaw - FH English.Members of staff from the PE Department Mr Paul McGinty - FH of Support for Learn-participated in the 2.6 Challenge where they joined ing says that “he has made a great job ofin the 26 Olympian Challenge. Each Olympian post- painting his garden fence.” However, everyed an exercise for 1 minute and our PE staff com- day Mr McGinty takes time to read a chapter ofpleted each exercise too! You can see a video of a book to his Support for Learning pupils. Attheir efforts on the Larkhall PE twitter page. the moment they are reading Cirque de Freak by Darren Shan. The daily chapters of the nov- Always known for having an el can be watched and listened to via the school Twitter page. Everyone welcome. alternative hair style Mrs Julie Allardyce - DHT has been try- ing out new styles for lock- down. Unfortunately this one was a fail - so back to the draw- ing board. Ms Linda Close from the School Office has been spending some of her time during lock- down training the newest addition to her family. Meet Nala who is a Bichon Frise/Yorkshire Ter- rier cross. She is now 18 weeks old and is proving to be a successful learner during her lockdown lessons. She can now give a paw, high five, dance and play fetch. She also loves trying all the new recipes that Ms Close has been cooking during the past few weeks.Newsletter 13

Lockdown ActivitiesSome more lockdown activities from the staff at Larkhall Academy …………………….When not doing school work Mrs Dr Pam McGregor - FH Sci-Jillian Samson - DHT, has been ence, has also taken up runningspending her spare time running. during this period. She started offHer longest run so far has been just by doing the couch to 5K pro-over 6 miles. Mrs Samson aims to gramme and ran 2 miles lastbe able to run for 10 miles by the weekend for the first time ever.time she returns to school. She will To mark this occasion Dr McGreg-need to eat some more of her home or donated money to the NHS Runmade pizza to have enough energy for Heroes charity. Well done.to do so.During the lockdown period Mrs Laura Bernstein - PT GypsyTraveller and also a member of staff in the Art Department hasbeen keeping a one hour journal of her activities each day. Everyevening she sits down and relaxes with a cup of tea and a biscuit.She tries to capture the day by using drawings, words and recent-ly a bit of texture. She has been trying different types of draw-ings, however states that she has had to be creative as she hasleft some of her paints in school. Therefore, she has been impro-vising using food colouring, old make-up and tea.Each day she adds something new to her journal - it could be adrawing or just one word or latterly she has added knitted charac-ters who she states have become her new work colleagues.! MrsBernstein is hoping to see an improvement in her knitting by theend of lockdown as there is certainly room for improvement inthis area.Newsletter 14

Lockdown ActivitiesSome more lockdown activities from the staff at Larkhall Academy …………………….Parakeets in the Park This Poem Is Not About Parakeets by Victoria Adukwei BulleyMiss Eve Traynor from the Englishdepartment has been doing a bit of On the bus back, two men make noise and all elsebird spotting while walking the dog in falls silent, or leans away. One woman gets offDawsholm woods in Glasgow near altogether. I pull my headphones out. The airwhere she lives. Her partner is the thickens. The men are angry. Words leave theirphotographer and she says that they mouths and hit the windows like flies. They’rehave taken some great pictures of everywhere, everywhere you look. I’ve got sevenwee ordinary birds and others of stops left. What we want is our country back.quite special birds too. She would My armpits tingle with sweat. I want to throwlike to share with us these stunning something and then leave. Is that so much to ask?photos of the parakeets who live in I’m nowhere near home, so instead I think about thethe woods. No-one knows how they parakeets that live on my road. They take up all thegot here or how they survive our ter- housing. I want to tell the men how the parakeetsrible weather but hats off to them. got here. All they do is take our jobs. How theyDespite these sad and strange were brought here in the ’60s for a film, and thentimes, nature charges on regardless. escaped. They’re scroungers. I want to tell themMiss Traynor says that she was go- how despite the bad weather they never lost theiring to try to write something pro- songs. Why are they so noisy? How none of April’sfound or poetic but she found a love- showers ever washed their colours off. They don’tly poem about Parakeets in London even try to blend in. Or how these birds are soand immigration and tolerance, smart they can talk human. They don’t even speakwhich is very apt considering our proper English. The men keep moaning. It’s mycurrent situation. freedom of speech. I want to ask if they’ve seen these creatures fly, these emerald green parakeets that live near my home, I want to tell them about the brightest, most beautiful birds I’ve ever known.Newsletter 15

Lockdown ActivitiesSome more lockdown activities from the staff at Larkhall Academy ……………………. Bag Face Challenge During the Easter Break Mrs Bernstein of the Art Department ,challenged some members of staff to participate in her ‘Bag Face Challenge’. The challenge given stated: Are you inspired or is it just boredom ……… Your challenge is to create A Bag Face - one a day, one a week or even just one …… Using art materials and a paper carrier bag or gift bag create a bag face!! Some members of staff took part and examples of their work are shown below.Wasnae Me Bag Face My FAB new Hand Bag New Lippy Bag Face Easter Bag FaceMrs Bernstein Mrs Ballantyne Mrs Bushby Mrs Lees and DaisyThis challenge is now open to all members of staff and pupils - please post picturesof your bags with their chosen names on the school Twitter page. (For Health andSafety purposes please note that plastic carrier bags should not be used.)Mrs Debbie Gavan Miss Gillian Ryder - FH of Art &from the Biology De- Design has been spending some timepartment is now home doing Copperplate Calligraphy. Sheschooling her two chil- hopes you all had a Happy Easter.dren. She states thatshe is now the PowerWasher Queen, hasbeen baking with herchildren and has alsopicked up her artist’spaintbrush for the firsttime since she leftschool. Larkhall AcademyNewsletter 16

Lockdown ActivitiesMSrosmCeolmetotreeSloteckwdaorwt n- FaHctoivf iPtieersfofrrmoimngthAertssthaafsf abteeLnarskpheanldl iAngcahdeer tmimye…in…iso…la…- ………….tion doing what she does best - making music. Mrs Stewart loves to play her trumpetand has been posting some fantastic clips of pieces she has been learning to playover the weeks. If you get a chance log onto Twitter and open this link to hear MrsStewart playing Over the Rainbow - it is sure to send shivers down your spine andbring a tear to your eye.https://twitter.com/alijmitch/status/1254735239357894657In her spare time during Lockdown During his time out of school Mr Andy Smith ourMrs Avril Dobson from the ASN de- Headteacher says “I’ve been trying to keep fit by cy- cling and running with my family.partment has been tidying in my gardenand enjoying lots of fresh air. She has a Unfortunately, allwoodland area of my garden where of my children arethere are lots of trees and plants which now faster thangive colour all year round. One of her me at both cyclingfavourite areas of the garden is her reg- and running, soular hexagonal summerhouse which I’m usually lagginghas angles of exactly 120° which is very behind.pleasing to this Mathematics teacher. I may start cycling to work when we eventually get back in the build- ing – if I can get up early enough!” .. Other School News ..Congratulations to the Larkhall Academy rockband “The Rooks” who were successful in win-ning the South Lanarkshire Council - Battle ofthe Bands Competition which was held on theevening of Thursday 13 February. The mem-bers of the band are: Ross Gardiner (Singer),Cameron McKie (Lead Guitar), MatthewMcFadyen (Rhythm Guitar), Kyle Hamilton(Bass Guitar) and Coll MacKinnon (Drums).Well done boys - we are proud of you!Newsletter #therooks #slcbattleofthebands 17

Other School NewsDIGITAL SCHOOLS AWARDThe Digital Schools Awards is pleased to invite Larkhall Academy to take part in the launch ofan exciting new European digital schools programme supported by the European CommissionErasmus+ initiative.15 secondary schools across five European countries including Scotland will be recognisedunder the new digital schools programme for the quality of their provision of technology foreducation purposes.The purpose of the programme is threefold: To build on the already significant progress made by schools in digital learning and teaching and to encourage them to strive for further progression and improvement To raise the profile of digital education practices in participating schools To recognise the outstanding achievement of those schools that complete the programmeWe are thrilled to be part of this new programme and will keep you updated with our progress! .. S6 Leavers .. Although our goodbye was a little rushed, we had the chance to give our S6 pupils the chance to do just that on the morning of Friday 20 March. They have been a great year group and we really hope to be able to give them a proper send off with a leavers’ assembly and a prom at some stage in the future.Newsletter 18

Visions, Values and AimsDuring this period of uncertainty, all pupils, staff and parents should remember ourVisions, Values and Aims. At times like this it is important for us all to have somethingto help guide us through our daily lives.Our Values KINDNESS TOGETHERNESS RESILIENCEThrough togetherness and displaying kindness to each other, we develop theresilience that helps us to succeed to the highest. We aim to uphold thesevalues in all that we do.Our VisionTo inspire and enable all our young people to flourish and fulfil their aspirations.Our AimsAt Larkhall Academy we will:• support young people to enrich their lives by providing a vibrant, diverse• and challenging education through high quality learning experiences• provide a nurturing environment where everyone is supported to be• happy, safe and confidentSouth Lanarkshire● develop the attitudes and skills that support personal growthLivSincghouorlsv’aGluoelfsWe will work together to improve our school.Young people will:● always try their best● show kindness and respectStaff will:● build positive relationships with young people, colleagues and families● provide high quality learning experiencesFamilies will:● encourage young people to be kind● support young people in everything that they doNewsletter 19