Oct 2015
November 15 — Page 1
eadteacher’s News
: 0131 554 0606
This edition of the school newsletter will underline once again the scale and the
scope of activities beyond the classroom from which our pupils can benefit,
whether in this country or beyond, and which provide the opportunity to broaden
young people’s horizons. It is particularly gratifying that on the vast majority of
these events, etc, our pupils acquit themselves well and bring credit to themselves
and to their upbringing, and to the school. I am also conscious that these
opportunities would not exist were it not for the commitment of staff, friends of
the school, and parents. I would highlight here that the Parent Council is intending
to run the annual Speed Careers Event on Tuesday 1 December for S4 pupils. This
is a very worthwhile event which helps pupils to think more widely about career
possibilities and job opportunities, in conversation with parents who have given of
their own time to talk about their own experiences. The concept is an example of
good practice, which has been recognised in a national forum and you can find out
more about the first-ever such event on http://engagingwithfamilies.co.uk/ideas/
breaking-down-barriers/leith-academy/.
: [email protected]
Useful Contacts
Senior Management Team
Mr J M Simpson - Headteacher
Mrs A Fair - DHT
Mr B Stewart - DHT
Miss R Watson - Acting DHT
Ms M Peebles - Business Manager
Pupil Support
House Heads
Mrs F Stevenson (Anderson)
While there is much going on outwith classes, pupils and staff are well engaged in the business of learning and teaching within the classroom as well.
Our exam results from June 2015 showed evidence of definite improvements in some areas, although we are also conscious of where we should aim
to do better. We have analysed results across the curriculum and are
working on a number of specifics to address issues that have been identified. The pass rate this year at National 5 was 82% (the national average
was 80%) compared to 79% (81%) in 2014. Of those passes 37% (49%)
were at Grade A. It should be noted that this is not a direct comparison as
this year pupils in S4, S5 and S6 sat National 5s while it was only S4 pupils
last year. S4 performance was particularly good in terms of those who
Ms L Lindsay (Barton)
Mr S Ferrie - Acting (Cowan)
Mr B Connor (Port)
SfL Leader
Mrs M Logie—Acting
CATS Co-ordinator
Mrs C Carstairs
achieved five or more National 5 qualifications (28% compared to 17% in 2014). At S5/S6 there was mixed
picture in S5 results but an encouraging improvement in S6 performance. Trends measured over three years
reflect that position as the following grid shows. (The Advanced Higher figure reflects the reduction in the
number of courses offered in 2014-15 rather than individual performance. The school’s pass rate at this level
was 80% (the national average was 81%).)
S5
5+@Level
5+@Level
1+@Level
3+@Level
5+@Level
S6
5+@Level
1+@Level
3+@Level
5+@Level
1+@Level
2015
(2012-2014 average)
4 (National 4)
5 (National 5)
6 (Higher)
6
6
73%
38%
49%
16%
6%
73%
41%
42%
21%
8%
5 (National 5)
6 (Higher)
6
6
7 (Advanced Higher)
47%
58%
32%
20%
8%
47%
48%
32%
18%
13%
Important Dates for Your Diary!
November
09
09 (w/b)
11
17
24
26
29
December
01
14-16
17
14 (w/b)
17
18
21
22
P7 Parents’ Information Evening
S2/S3 Monitoring & Tracking reports issued
Remembrance Service
S5/S6 Parents’ Consultation (4.30-6.30pm)
Parent Council (7.00pm)
S4 Parents’ Consultation (4.30-6.30pm)
Adult classes end
Parent Council Speed Careers Event
Concert Rehearsals
Christmas Concert
S2 full reports issued
Senior Inter-House sports
Youth Philanthropy Initiative finals
Senior Inter-House Sports
Christmas Service
TERM ENDS
We are awaiting the initial figures for Positive Destinations for
those pupils who left school in 2015 which is another indicator
of Improvements in Performance.
Attainment and achievement at school are closely linked to
attitude and behaviour in class. Those who do well tend to be
young people with a positive attitude to learning whose
behaviour reflects that. Regrettably not all of our pupils are
always able to display such attitude and behaviour in all of their
classes and there are times when we need to try and deal with
that, both for the sake of the individual young person, and for
that of others in the class whose learning is being disrupted.
To that end, we are tightening up our responses to pupil behaviour in a number of ways. Those pupils who are sent from class
to Pupil Supervision (ie to work in another supervised class) will
now be expected to complete a 10-minute detention, usually the
same day, to allow the difficulties which led to their being
removed from class to be discussed and, hopefully, addressed.
Parents of these pupils will continue to be sent a letter alerting
them to the instance(s). For those pupils whose behaviour leads
to the Duty Office being called to the class (this is generally a
member of senior management or a curriculum leader on a rota
basis), there will now be imposed a same-day 30 minute
detention. This sanction will underline the seriousness of the
incident and, again, will allow for some sort of resolution to be
sought. Parents of these pupils will receive a text message
from school in the afternoon alerting them to the detention. It
is hoped that these altered approaches will enable us to try and
reduce the instances of behaviour which lead either to Pupil
Supervision or to a Duty Officer being called to a class. This
will be to the ultimate benefit of the individuals concerned and
should also impact positively on the vast majority of our pupils
who want to get on in class with minimal disruption to their
learning. I would be grateful to have the support of parents in
tackling these issues in these revised ways.
SQA Leadership PE Placements
25 SQA Leadership S6 pupils will start their
placements at Leith Primary School, Leith
November
15 — Page
Nursery, Hermitage
Park Primary
and 2
Leith Academy Nursery on the 22
October. The seniors will be delivering PE
lessons in small groups to all different year
groups from October until
Christmas. Class teachers are offering
feedback on each sessions for senior pupils
to take on board to improve their leadership skills each week. These senior pupils
are excellent role models in sport for
younger pupils. Good luck seniors!
Educational Maintenance
Allowance (EMA)
From January 2016, the income
thresholds for Education
Maintenance Allowances are
increasing for those students born
before 1 March 2000 and this
means more students may qualify to
receive weekly payments of £30 per
week. The income threshold for
families with one dependent child will
increase from £20,351 to £24, 421
and for those with more than one
dependent child will increase from
£22,403 to £26,884. If you believe
your son or daughter will now qualify
for an EMA you can find out more at
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ema
Applications can be submitted from
26 October 2015
Thank you for your assistance
Joyce Nisbet, Communications Client
Manager, 2/2 Waverley Court, 4 East
Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BJ,
Tel; 0131 469 3134
Pupil from Leith Academy wows First Minister
November 15 — Page 3
On Sunday 26 July 2015, over 80 young people from across Scotland met with the Rt. Hon Nicola
Sturgeon MSP, First Minister for Scotland at the Kerry Hotel in Beijing. The event was organised
by the by the Scottish Affairs Office at the British Embassy in Beijing. Ms Sturgeon was in Beijing on a trade visit to China and Hong Kong. Her trip was aimed at improving Scotland’s links with
China.
The young people were in China taking part in a two week language and culture immersion course.
Tina Askari, of Leith Academy stole the show by giving an impromptu speech in Mandarin. Mme Xu
Lin, the Director of the Confucius Institute Headquarters was so impressed with Tina’s competence in Mandarin and her willingness to speak that she was offered a scholarship to study Mandarin for a year in a city of her choice.
Fhiona Fisher, Director of the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) based at the University of Strathclyde said: ‘Tina has been an excellent ambassador for CISS, Leith Academy and
the City of Edinburgh Council. I am delighted that I was present to share in her very special
achievement!’
The immersion course runs yearly in July and welcomes pupils from all over Scotland. The two week
long programme includes visits to local landmarks, schools and host families. The experience offers
young people the opportunity to immerse themselves in Chinese culture whilst learning Mandarin.
Istanbul & Gallipoli Trip
Our great adventure began at 6am on Tuesday 13 October. We,
pupils and staff from Leith Academy and Portobello High School,
checked in at Edinburgh Airport for our flight to Heathrow where we
would meet our tour guide before travelling on to Istanbul, and then
on to the Gallipoli peninsula.
Arriving at Istanbul airport was definitely like entering a different
world – busy, hot and a buzz of different languages.
We got the bus down to our hotel in Canakkale, checked in, had a
quick dinner and off to bed. It was now after 11pm local time & we
were tired after a long day on plane, bus and ferry.
Everyone up for an early start on Wednesday, breakfast and on our
coach for 8.30am. Yes, teenagers up before lunch during the holidays!
First of many journeys on the Canakkale ferry over to Eceabat to see
the display created at the entrance to what is now a National Peace
Park on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Life size representation of what the trenches would have been like.
We then went to see the National Turkish Memorial, an awesome
and beautiful memorial which gave us an insight into the scale of
Turkish soldiers who died in the Gallipoli campaign.
Heads News Continued
Finally, there have been some
staffing changes during the
last half-term. Miss Cook’s
secondment as Acting
November
15Drummond
— Page 4
Headteacher at
CHS has been extended and,
as a result, Miss Rachel
Watson, Curriculum Leader
Maths, has been appointed as
an acting Depute, Mr Ben
Stewart having been earlier
appointed to the post made
vacant by Mr Peat’s retiral.
Mrs Charli Prime, our Support
for Learning Leader, was
appointed as a Depute at Knox
Academy in Haddington during
the summer holidays. Her
post has been advertised and
I am moving to a long-leet
next month. In the meantime,
Ms Mairi Logie is acting up as
SfLL. Ms Jennifer Good
(Music) has moved to the
Royal High School and Ms
Heather Dickson has taken up
the role just after the
October holiday. Ms Andrea
Campbell (Maths) has gone on
maternity leave [she has now
had a baby boy] and we
welcome Mr Alastair May on a
temporary basis.
The next half-term, leading up
to Christmas, will, I have no
doubt, be just as busy, if not
more so, than the half-term
just gone. I am certain
though that we shall be able
to rise to the challenges and
continue to offer opportunities, both curricular and extra
-curricular, for pupils to experience both success and
enjoyment.
We then started to visit the various sites where the British troops had fought during 1915. We paid
particular attention to the men of the 7th Battalion of the Royal Scots who had died in Gallipoli and the
men who we had identified from our schools WW1 Roll of Honour.
November 15 — Page 5
On Thursday we also
carried out our own Act
of Remembrance at the
Helles Memorial where
those who died but have
no marked grave are
remembered.
Beach Cemetery, one of the beautiful
cemeteries maintained by the CWGC.
Redoubt Cemetery where
we remembered Walter
Hislop who is on Leith
Academy’s Roll of
Honour.
On Friday we had the eagerly anticipated visit to a Turkish school. We had met up with some of
the pupils and staff the night before. Ibrahim Bodur Anadolu High School welcomed us with open
arms by giving us a presentation about Canakkale and the surrounding area – all in perfect English. We exchanged gifts, took part in a karaoke music lesson and shared a lovely buffet lunch
with pupils and staff that we would now call our friends.
Saturday saw us all packed up, leaving the hotel at 8.30am for our last trip on the ferry before
heading off to Istanbul airport. We have left Turkey with memories that will last a lifetime and with
new friendships made, both at home and abroad.
A huge thank you to everyone involved, both in Portobello High School and Leith Academy, for making
this a FANTASTIC trip. A great and emotional culmination to our Gretna project.
Football
November 15 — Page 6
Pictured above: Raith Rovers striker James Craigen drops in on the S1 vs S2 friendly and shares
his experience of going on to play professional football AFTER getting his degree at Edinburgh
Football up and running at Leith!
The football season is well underway at Leith Academy with the U-13 and U-14 teams making a solid start to their respective league campaigns. The U-13s are unbeaten so far and
continue to get stronger each week under new coach—Darryn Stenhouse. The 14s, having
won the 2nd Division last year, have faced a tough start to their new campaign in the top
division, however continue to turn out in numbers at training. Furthermore, the U-15, U-16
and senior teams have started training and played some friendly fixtures in preparation for
their upcoming fixtures in the famous Lothian Cup. The U-16s have been drawn at home to
George Heriot’s and the seniors will face a tough away tie to face East Lothian side, North
Berwick. Both ties are scheduled for the weekend of the 6/7 November.
In other news, congratulations to Ben Cargill (S4) and Ross Aitchison (S6) who have made it
into their respective Select Squads for the Edinburgh Region. The boys have impressed
through a number of trial stages and are flying the flag for Leith Academy on the national
U-13 results
U-14 results
Leith 6-1 Balerno
Currie 2-2 Leith
Leith 1-6 Portobello
Leith 0-8 Craigmount
Friendly
U-13s 1-5 U-14s
Friendly
Leith 5-1
Senior Results
Leith 4-4 Craigroyston
Higher PE - Tour of Britain Trip
The Higher PE course looks at mental, emotional, social and physical fitness and how these factors impact on performance in a range activities. To study these factors in more depth the Higher PE students
went on an excursion to Holyrood Park for the 4th stage of the Aviva Tour of Britain and discussed how
the
factors would
November
15 —impact
Page on
7 the riders before and during the race. The event was a fantastic spectacle
and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they got the opportunity to get close to the likes of
Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish and see them in action.
Premier League Trip
In October 41 pupils from all year groups were lucky enough to travel to Manchester and watch Manchester City play Newcastle United at the world famous Etihad Stadium. The pupils were treated to a
seven goal thriller in which Sergio Aguero made history by becoming the fifth player to score five
goals in a single Premiership game. Can you name the other four? As well as watching the game the
pupils took part in a football quiz and raffle on the bus as well as visiting the Manchester City megastore. As the trip was such a great success and the pupils were a real credit to Leith Academy hopefully another trip will run in the new year.
Forth Road Cross Visitor Centre
November 15 — Page 8
Following last year’s successful S2 visit to the Forth Road
Cross Visitor Centre by the Maths and Technology faculties,
a similar visit was planned for this years’ S2 on the 3, 8 and
10 September. Each pupil attending was briefed by a structural engineer on how the new bridge is being constructed,
when it’s planned to be opened and how it differs from the
other two bridges. Following the briefing the pupils took part
in a bridge walk and an engineering task. For the bridge walk
we were fortunate with the weather (no rain and not to
windy). In fact the 10th was glorious sunshine. The engineering task was to construct a cable support bridge.
During the visit on the 10th, Emma Dobbin enjoyed her
first Leith Academy school trip. During the bridge
walk, Emma had a laugh with Jenna Tough and Thomas
Brown.
The highlight of the bridge walk for Jenna Tough was
all the padlocks of remembrance or tokens of love.
Tianjin
As part of our links with Tianjin No1 High School in China the Leith Academy pupils who went to China
last October had the fantastic opportunity to spend two days with Chinese pupils. Here is an account
of
what happened
how 9the pupils felt. All Chinese and Scottish pupils thoroughly enjoyed this
November
15 —and
Page
enriching experience. Our next trip to China is planned for October 2016. Pupils interested in joining this unforgettable experience can still join the group. Please contact Mrs Whitelaw for more
details.
On Wednesday 30 September and Thursday 1 October I had the privilege of spending time with a group
of pupils from Tianjin No1 High School in China. At the start of the day on Wednesday, we were
introduced to the pupils and they all followed one of the pupils who went to China in October 2014. I
enjoyed showing the pupils I had with me around our school and introducing them to my friends. They
found our way of school and learning confusing but interesting at the same time. Elisah gave me a gift
which was extremely kind of him and I was very thankfull. Many of us also got gifts from our Tianjin
friends.
After school we went to my friend Caitlin’s house and showed them around. They were surprised by the
size of of her house and how quiet the streets were. We played football. We then went back to Caitlin’s
house for tea. We had chicken curry with Irn Bru and finished with shortbread. We then made our
way to my house where they met my family including my dog. After giving them a bag of full of Scottish
sweets, we headed to the beach. Most of our Tianjin visitors went to the beach and we all had a great
time there; some wrote Chinese characters in the sand; it was very pretty. We took lots of photos and
had good fun. At eight o’clock we left them at the school and said goodbye. Fortunately on the
Thursday we toured up town in a bus and heard lots of stories. At the end of the day in Leith
Academy it was time to say goodbye. We exchanged e-mails and thanked each other for the amazing
past few days. I had a great time and will miss my new friends and the time we spent together.
Clare Hibbert
Business Education does London
Our trip to London was magnificent and I would love to come back next year to experience the beauty of the
15 — Page
places we didn't manage to see this time. Although our trip only lasted for 3 daysNovember
we had the opportunity
to 10
visit some of the London’s most impressive and beautiful places which made a lasting impression on all of us,
particularly on me since it was the first time I visited London. The weather was splendid with a bright sun
shining above us high up in the sky giving our trip more splendour and enhancing our mood and enthusiasm.
On the first day we went to the Buckingham Palace
whose imposing height and luxurious design captured
our attention immediately, our eyes staying fixed upon
the white massive building for about ten minutes. We
hurried to take as many photographs as we could,
wanting to show our parents and friends how
amazingly beautiful it is. After Buckingham Palace we
went to Westminster to visit the famous Big Ben and
the majestic London Eye. Here was the highlight of the
trip for me. Because of the high London
buildings Big Ben wasn't visible as we were
walking down the street towards it, but when we made
left the gold-coloured massive tower suddenly
rose in front of me in all its brilliance. It caused my jaw
to drop for a minute as it was much more beautiful
than I have ever imagined it to be. It was an
unforgettable experience.
When we headed for the London Eye it was close to dusk. As we were over a hundred feet high in one of the
London Eye’s capsules the view of the River Thames along with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament accompanied by a beautiful reddish sky at dusk was spectacular and unbelievably beautiful. During the day we also
had some free time to explore Harrods – London’s poshest shop where we saw Princess Diana’s memorial, and
also some nearby places where we went shopping.
On the second day we went to the Making of
Harry Potter Studio were we have spent some
great time exploring the place and finding out
things and facts about the actual making of the
Harry Potter movie. We also attended a lesson
prepared by one of the tour guides
specifically for us, business students, about
movie marketing which I found very interesting
and fascinating.
On the third day we went to BBC
Broadcasting House for a tour which I personally found truly captivating since we discovered
interesting things about the actual BBC building
and its history. We were also given the opportunity to explore the BBC studios, particularly
the drama radio studio where we found out
such as bird chirping and rainfall sound. The tour guides also prepared a surprise for us by taking
volunteers to read the news and filming them, thus expanding our understanding of how the actual process
works. We had also explained to us why the colour green is used as a background when filming and what is the
purpose of the massive glass situated on top of the building. It was an amazing experience.
November 15 — Page 11
After the BBC we headed for the St Paul’s Cathedral,
a tremendous white beautifully sculpted building
which caught our admiration at the very first glance.
Our last destination was the Houses of Parliament.
We had the great opportunity to go inside the House
of Commons and listen to part of a debate about
whether or not sixteen and seventeen years olds
should be given the right to vote. We were lucky because the MP that was mostly speaking was Tommy
Sheppard who is the MP for the constituency we live
in – Edinburgh East. This was a great and unique
experience for all of us as we don't get to go to the
House of Commons every day. We were also hugely
impressed by the interior of the House of Commons,
particularly by St Stephen’s Hall.
Our trip was so successful and enjoyable thanks to the teachers who organised it so well down to the slightest detail. We never got lost thanks to Ms Stevenson who knows London like the back of her hand and we
were always in time for our appointments. She would also count us every time we got on and off the train to
make sure nobody was missing. Mrs Stewart accompanied us and she was ready to answer any question
we might have. Our trip to London was AMAZING !!!
Valeria Ieseanu S5
Kinloch Anderson Kilt Makers
My trip to Kinloch Anderson Kilt making shop
On September 14 2015, my teacher, Mrs Whitelaw, and I went on a trip to Kinloch Anderson kilt making shop to see how the Scottish culture of making kilts is influencing the rest of the world,
particularly East Asia. It was a rainy day and the rain was very strong but I was really looking forward
to the experience of visiting Kinloch Anderson. Once I arrived there I met a few pupils from another
school. I had already met them in my immersion summer course in China. The management team of
Kinloch Anderson explained the history of making kilts and how it influences the rest of the world especially China, Korea and Japan. I was stunned to find out how this family shop could become so popular in the East. I never knew that so much material is needed to make a kilt. As part of our visit we
had a video chat with a member of Kinloch Anderson’s kilt makers who is based in Shanghai. The group
found out about studying abroad and asked questions about how it is to work there. It showed how
important the link between business and languages is in today’s world. It was an astounding experience
for me to visit the kilt shop and I strongly recommend people to get involved in this project. This is a
great opportunity for finding out about other cultures and widening your horizons.
Tina Askari
Selfies Project at the Scottish National
The National Galleries of Scotland will be hosting a touring exhibition in 2016November
(16 July – 1615
October)
— Page 12
called “Facing The World: Self-Portraits from Rembrandt to Ai Wei Wei”. The exhibition starts in
Karlsruhe Staatliche Kunsthalle (Germany) on 31 October 2015 and goes to Lyon Musée des Beaux Arts
(France) before coming to Edinburgh next Autumn (2016).
Leith Academy is one of two schools from Scotland, the other one being the Royal Blind School in
Edinburgh, which has been invited to take part in this project, contributing with self-portraits (selfies)
by pupils, alongside works by pupils from Karlsruhe and Lyon. The gallery in Karlsruhe will be exhibiting
young people’s work to coincide with their exhibition. Visitors will not know which country the pupils are
from and they will be anonymous. These will be projected on walls or small screens.
Back in September, staff from Modern Languages and Art, the multimedia technician, and an S3 French
class (S3L1) with 30 pupils, got involved in a cross-curricular project. Photographer artists came to the
school one day to run a workshop and a second workshop took place in the National Gallery of Scotland
the week after, where pupils created their own self-portraits. While there, the group was also given a
private tour of Bailey's Stardust exhibition.
This is the pupils’ account:
The project that we are participating in is all about self-portraits (selfies). Leith
Academy is one of the schools taking part in the project. Schools from France and
Germany are also included. Some of the selfies that are taken have been selected to be sent to Germany to
be displayed in an exhibition.
On Friday 18 September Mrs Zulaica’s French class at Leith Academy went to the Scottish National Art Gallery. When we arrived we got into groups and began our journey around the private David Bailey Exhibition.
Here are some of the reviews from our class about the trip, “I thought that some of the pictures were
eye-catching and some of the art was very interesting.” Many others in the class said that it wouldn’t
normally interest them but it was nice to try something different.
After looking around the gallery we came back and began taking selfies. We all tried the different cameras
and took some amazing photos. Overall, we all had a great time.
Shannon Louden, Amy Donald, Laura Ferguson, S3
Spanish Cinema Trips
November 15 — Page 13
On Wednesday, 7 October, 33 pupils from (mostly) S2 and
S4 got the chance to go on a trip to Filmhouse with Miss
Macrae, Miss Luque and Mrs Cook to see a Spanish film.
The film we saw was entitled ‘Five Days to Dance’ and it
was a documentary. In the film two dancers decided to
teach normal, everyday school children a whole dance routine within five days. The film was really interesting because it wasn’t only about dance, it gave you a glimpse into
the thoughts of the dancers and the children on what
dance was to them, their school and home lives and various other things. At first I thought it
wouldn’t be possible for them to learn so much in five days, but the final dance routine surprised
me with how good it was and it really showcased how much time and effort they had put into it.
Overall, I’m glad I got the chance to go see it.
Lauren Wood, S4
On Thursday the 8 October a group of Spanish students from our school went on a trip to
Filmhouse cinema as part of the international film festival.
The film we were seeing was called ‘Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados’ which translates to ‘Living is
easy with your eyes closed’. The film is about a man who loves The Beatles and is an English
teacher in Spain. He finds out that John Lennon will be in Almeria in Spain for a film shoot and decides he must go and meet Lennon because he loves The Beatles. On his journey he meets Belén and
Juanjo who go on this journey with him.
I think most of those who went on the trip really enjoyed this film because it was light hearted,
funny and very good for listening to how people in Spain speak. It was also very good because at
one point there was a man with a different dialect to the three principal characters. This put into
perspective how there are different accents and dialects across Spain as there are in Scotland.
I would recommend to people to go to Spanish films or whatever language you could be doing in
school as it is benificial to see people from the country speaking natively and how they would
normally. It helps your understanding of the language and the culture.
Corinne Whitelaw, S4
Take Your Partners with Pride
On Friday the 2 October, Mr Stewart and four S6 pupils (Oscar Shirlaw, Lucy Hogg, Caitlin Brown
and Keir Aitken) had the pleasure of attending the premiere of a short film by a young
Edinburgh screen writer and director, Siri Rodnes. The screening was for schools only and was an
exclusive look at the film prior to its presentation at various film festivals later in the year including
the Edinburgh International and Sundance Film Festivals. The film focuses on the protagonist as she
grows up in Edinburgh and discovers the difficulties facing her in being allowed to embrace her true
gender and sexual identity and was based on the experiences of the auteur herself. A question and
answer session followed the screening, which was hosted by members of Edinburgh's LGBT Youth
team, and another film, Pride, was screened after this. It was a splendid and thought provoking
afternoon that provided much stimulus which will serve the school well in our pursuit of the LGBT
Charter of Rights this year.
Mock Trials Project
All four teams (two of pursuers, two of defenders) did very well in the Sheriff Court on 5 and 6 October
and although we didn’t manage to retain the Eve Crowe Memorial Cup, won in styleNovember
in 2014, several
our 14
15 —ofPage
pupils were mentioned in dispatches (Fraser Kelsey and Sadiq Baidani) or managed to gain individual awards
in the ‘Best Witness’ category: Farihah Baksh and Ewan Burns. All of our pupils acquitted themselves well
both in court and at the presentation ceremony on 8 October in the Great Hall of the Scottish National
Portrait Gallery and will want, I hope, to have another bash next time round. Thanks to Matthew Wilson for
his work with the pupils in the two months or so leading up to the event and to Jen Ness for her support of
this particular endeavour.
Scottish Young People Create Change event
On Thursday, 10 September, Miss Macrae, Sean Walsh, Caitlin Brown, Lucy Hogg and Alex Mason attended the
Scottish Young People Create Change event near the Hibs Stadium.
Organised in partnership between Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, Shakti Women’s Aid, LGBT Youth Scotland and
Edinburgh Women’s Aid, this was a great event which enabled us to take a closer look at domestic abuse, honourbased violence, rape and sexual abuse within the wider picture of gender-based violence and discuss why everyone
needs to be involved.
At the start, we heard Amal Azzudin’s inspirational story of how she and her friends campaigned for asylum seekers’ rights in the UK. She is one of the leading campaigners of ‘The Glasgow Girls’ whose story has been adapted
into a musical, a documentary and a BBC drama.
We then discussed gender stereotyping and challenges faced by those who do not ‘follow the script’ and who are
often marginalised.
We were some of the first people to view a screening of the ‘Do You Know’ films made by young people from Leith
Academy and were privileged to have one of the main stars, Shashwat Sharma (Head Boy here last year) talk to us
about his role in raising awareness about Gender Based Violence. We were given the chance to contribute our
voices towards a report which will be sent to MSPs and professionals at the Scottish Parliament.
This all tied in nicely with Leith Academy’s new project ‘Mentors in Violence Prevention’, where a group of
seniors will be trained to deliver a course to younger pupils with the aim of giving them the confidence to deal with
different situations in an appropriate manner.
#BeBrave