Our National 5 Business Management classes had a great day visiting Johnstons of Elgin on Thursday where they received a tour of Operations and a presentation on the company’s Marketing activities. Pupils were all very enthusiastic about seeing aspects of their course in a real life business context. The trip was rounded off with a visit to the ever-popular McDonalds! Thank you to Johnstons of Elgin for having us, and to Miss Thomson in the Business Department for organising such an excellent learning opportunity for our pupils.

The latest edition of our Equalities Magazine is now available. Highlights in this edition include Dyslexia Awareness Month, World Mental Health Day, photos from the Photographic Competition, Book Reviews, and a Rights Respecting Interview with Mr Wilson.

Higher Politics went to Edinburgh on 13^th September to see The Rest is Politics podcast. To start off, pupils had a few hours of free time in Edinburgh to be tourists for the day and explore, shop and eat lots of good food! This was some of our pupils first time in Edinburgh so it was great to be able to offer them this experience. In the evening, we went to Usher Hall where the podcast was taking place. We were lucky enough to Meet Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart who were extremely welcoming and asked the pupils questions about politics. We met them on their stage and also got a great group photo – Mrs Gordon was possibly the most excited of us all! After this, we went and got our seats and watched the show, where the pupils were super engaged and involved in what was being discussed. The Rest is Politics does a Q+A session and 3 questions were answered that had been put forward by our Culloden Academy pupils which was fantastic – they will be able to use their responses in essays and their assignments. Not only this, but our school were given at least 2 shoutouts in front of a sell out audience of over 2000 people. We also are Twitter famous after Alastair posted our group photo on his twitter page!

Higher Modern Studies went to the Scottish Parliament yesterday and had a great time and represented the school extremely well – super proud of all of the pupils! They were given a talk from the Education Department about Committees as well as Scrutiny of the Government which was great as we have just covered this in class. We were then lucky enough to have one of our regional MSPs, Edward Mountain come and do a Q+A with the pupils. They asked him some excellent questions which put him on the spot! After this, we went and sat in the Debating Chamber and watched business taking place – with some topics being discussed that are relevant to their course and possibly even their assignment courses. We then had 2 hours of free time in Edinburgh where they got to enjoy some time to go shopping and eat some delicious food. Well done Highers!

It’s has been a busy week for the boys football teams. Please see results below:

Under 13s

Won 9-1 at home Vs Fraserburgh Academy in the North of Scotland Schools Cup. 

Goals – James Maclaren x3, Jake Parsons, Jack Aitchison, Ethan (both claiming the goal), 3x own goals

Player of the match – James Maclaren

Under 14s

Lost 4-2 away to Lochside Academy in the Scottish Schools Cup. 

Goals – Will Macdonald & Kai Hind

Player of the match – Will Macdonald

Under 16s

Won 3-2 at home to Aberdeen Grammar   in the Scottish Schools Cup. 

Goals – Tyler Cassels-Gatensby, Oscar Beattie & Sonny Varley Players of the match – Liam Maclean & Oliver Lamont

Seniors

Lost 3-1 to Charleston Academy in a friendly. 

Goal – Callum McVeigh

Player of the match – Dylan Allan

Highlife Highland promote playing in a musical group and learning an instrument as an extra-curricular subject. Please see their newsletter for a flavour of what is on offer.

Please see the attached letter from Highland Council outlining recently agreed changes to the capital programme for schools.

Further to yesterday’s communication, I am writing to confirm that the strike action by non-teaching staff planned for next week is going ahead and that Culloden Academy will be closed to all pupils on Tuesday 26^th September, Wednesday 27^th September and Thursday 28^th September. Teaching staff will be in the building and whilst there is no expectation from the Council of live delivery, we are keen to minimise the loss of momentum in learning. For that reason, all teachers will be expected to upload some independent learning materials to Google Classroom for all classes each day.

I will take the opportunity to run additional Improvement focused meetings and staff development events but beyond that teachers will respond to queries and emails when available. It has been a really good start to term and I am concerned about the impact this disruption will have and the lost time for completing courses so please ensure your young person does log in and complete the appropriate tasks. If you have queries or concerns please contact your child’s Guidance teacher or contact Senior Management via culloden.academy@highland.gov.uk

Dr J Vance

Please see a letter from Highland Council below in connection with the planned strike action by UNISON next week. As it stands Culloden Academy will be closed to pupils Tuesday-Thursday of next week. However as the letter indicates, national discussions will be ongoing on Thursday which may yet cause the planned strike to be cancelled. Given this uncertainty we will email all parents and update the website again on Friday morning to confirm whether the strikes are proceeding and also how we will support learning if the strikes take place.