Pupil’s in Mrs Skinner’s N5 Graphic Communication class had a live project with Househill Cafe in Nairn to design an advert for their social media. The 3 winners of the competition were Zara Jones, Luca Inglis and Struan Brough. Househill Cafe said they chose the designs because:

“I like them because they are clean and minimalist and would suit our social media pages. They have also made our logo really obvious and have used our brand colours.”

Well done Zara, Luca and Struan!

Following on from the Science and English interdisciplinary project, two pupils’ writing pieces were submitted into the Scottish-wide competition ran by the University of St Andrews. Congratulations goes out to Calum Kelly in S2, who was one of the four runners-up of the competition. His entry was an informative essay on the life and accomplishments of Alexander Fleming. Well done Calum!

This morning, we had Sara and Donna from NHS Highlands’ Education, Learning and Development team. They talked about the range of pathways and opportunities within NHS Highland to over 90 students from S1-S6. With over 350 different NHS careers, the session proved invaluable.

My Future Fridays are organised by the DYW School coordinator to better inform our students about local opportunities, pathways into training and the world of work, and ignite their passion for the variety of sectors we have across our region and beyond!

This morning our Home Economics Skills For Work Hospitality students enjoyed a lesson on barista skills organised by our DYW school coordinator. Thank you to Ryan from Heilan Brew Coffee Co. for coming along to share his experiences, what it takes to be a barista with skills that can take you around the world, as well as give our students a fantastic lesson in making perfect hot drinks!

This year our S1 Book Group volunteered to run the Valentine’s Book Speed Dating event! The pupils and staff who attended sampled the books and wrote down their thoughts and ratings.  We also had wrapped up books for book blind date that pupils could take, then make a decision whether to take the book and unwrap it or leave it.  They had to choose the book by just 3 facts written on the front! The book love was in the air for sure this Valentines Day! We can’t wait for next year!

Yesterday we had artist Alice, who owns ‘Isle of Riso’ in speaking to our AH Art students. She discussed her career in visual arts and eco-friendly risograph printing business. She shared examples of her work with our students and discussed collaborations taking place out of Wasps artistic studio in Inverness.

S3 Youth Philanthropy Initiative Charity Speed Dating

This morning, our DYW school coordinator hosted a charity speed dating event. The event was designed to support our S3 students to make an informed decision when selecting which charity they would like to present for the £3,000 YPI grant.

Huge thank you to the following charities, who braved the storm to attend:

• Highland Cycle Ability
• CHAS
• Inverness Womens Aid
• Highland Hospice
• CROCUS
• The Archie Foundation
• RASASH
• The Calman Trust

Culloden Academy is closed to all pupils and staff today. Road conditions are very difficult this morning and neither D&E or Stagecoach are able to run any services.

Prelims
Today’s prelim will go ahead- possibly with a slight delay until we are confident that those who are coming have arrived. Pupils who cannot make it into school will be given another date on which they can sit their Prelim- their teacher will advise them next week.

S2 Parents Evening has been rescheduled for Wednesday 24th January. If you have appointments these will automatically be carried forward to next Wednesday, but if you need to make or cancel appointments, the system has opened again and will remain open until Monday evening.

S2 into S3 Course Choice deadline will be postponed by one week and will now be Friday 26th January.