School Open: Thursday 18 January

THURSDAY 18 JANUARY – SCHOOL IS OPEN TODAY

The Nairnside D&E Service has been cancelled and will not run this morning due to difficult road conditions.

Stagecoach warn that conditions around Croy/Tornagrain/Clephanton are difficult. These buses will run subject to delay. Pupils are reminded that they should not wait more than 20 minutes for a bus…if it hasn’t turned up within that time they should return home.

Severe Weather Information

We had a few pupils and parents venture in to school this morning and we are keen to minimise unnecessary journeys in these conditions. Can we therefore remind all parents that the first system we update is the winter weather school phone line which can be contacted at:

0800 564 2272 with Culloden’s unique pin code of 041000.

Generally that will be updated by 7.20am. Immediately afterwards we update Facebook and the school website’s News section. The Council’s school closure website does not begin taking information from schools until 8 am and so the absence of information about the school on it, should not be taken as confirmation that we are open.

Temperatures and snowfall mean that tomorrow’s opening is not certain but we will, through the channels above, get information to you as early as possible.

Dr Vance

Sledge Design

Today saw the races of our amazing sledge designs done by the S3 Design and Manufacture classes in Tech. The epic ski run built by the technicians, tested the sledges performance and we found our winners! Well done to both classes who competed so well! A great day for Creative Design!

Maths Brain-Teaser Challenges

The winners of this season’s Maths Brain-Teaser Challenges:

  • Bronze: Amy Lainton S5, Micah MacDonald S1
  • Silver: Freddie Hoare S3
  • Gold: Ailish Boyd S4

Participants entered five rounds of Brain-Teasers, gaining points for each correct answer. Well done to all who entered!

Rotary Club Competition

On the 2nd of November we attended the IRA to compete in the Rotary Club competition to represent Culloden Academy. There were 10 rounds, each with 6 questions. There were many topics like Science, History and Music. One round that we did particularly well in was ‘The Environment’ in which we got full marks. A highlight for some of us was the chocolate orange buttons which pushed us on till the end. We competed against the Inverness Royal Academy and Charleston and managed to come out on top.

Culloden Battlefield History Trip

On Thursday, we had nearly 90 pupils from S3 attend the Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre for a history trip. Our S3 history classes have been studying the Battle of Culloden, so this trip was designed to support their learning. They were involved in four workshops which included; a tour around the museum where they had to perform some dangerous medical treatments, a source activity where they had to identify some items that have been found on the battlefield, a tour of the grounds of the battlefield where they had to march in line, and an acting workshop where they were allowed to dress up as Government/Jacobite soldiers or civilians that were involved.

We would like to thank all our pupils for being fantastic representatives of Culloden Academy, and the Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre for delivering such engaging and interesting sessions for our pupils.

S4 Mock Interviews

This morning our DYW coordinator hosted mock interviews, offered to all S4 students. The event was designed to support our S4 students with gaining valuable interview skills and techniques. Work has been ongoing in PSE classes in preparation, encouraging and increasing knowledge and confidence. The session was designed to build upon those skills, allowing the students to practice and receive feedback.

Many thanks to the employers who took the time out of their schedules to attend:

  • DM Hall
  • Global Highland
  • Scottish Ambulance Service
  • UHI
  • West Fraser
  • Kingsmills Hotel
  • Macleod & MacCallum
  • R I Crudens
  • Highlife Highland

My Future Friday

This morning was our third instalment of the My Future Friday sessions here at Culloden Academy. We had Laura from Nigg Skills Academy who discussed training opportunities and pathways into engineering, oil and gas, renewables and construction through a programme delivered in partnership with UHI North Highland.