Rector's Newsletter - June 2007

Dear Parents, Former Pupils and Friends of Dollar Academy,

A window of opportunity… During a Sports Weekend characterised by flash floods and torrential rain, the fact that the Saturday afternoon sports event was able to take place was miraculous. The rain had stopped at 10 am on Saturday morning after an overnight deluge. The ground, softened by weeks of rain, allowed the pools to disappear quickly. The pipe band thus was able to perform shortly after 1 pm; the rain threatened for twenty minutes at 2 pm; and then the black cloud making its way towards us from Grangemouth turned sharp left at Tillicoultry and headed over the Ochils. With a further cloud about to arrive, the tug of war was brought forward by twenty minutes, and nobody could quite believe the fact that every event had gone ahead as planned. Mr Richard Vanstone, who retires at the end of August, was complimented on taking through the presentation of prizes in a new record time, and sports day came deftly to a close.

The Prep and Junior School Sports had gone ahead on the Thursday and Friday, and the pipe band, on the Sunday, produced a stunning performance in the marquee. The tent flaps had been opened to enable the huge number of spectators to join in the celebration. Barbecues went ahead in the houses, the Art exhibition was again immensely popular and stylish, and former pupils mingled with current pupils to share the magical Dollar experience. Amazingly, only the outdoor events on the Sunday had to be cancelled.

The Junior musical, Scheherezade showed again the skills and enthusiasm of the Junior School. The spectacular four night run of the Senior musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, had many asking whether or not Dollar concentrated full-time on musical drama. There is much going on in the school, and the Senior musical is in many ways the climax of the year showcasing wonderful comic acting, high standards of musicianship, and a richly talented group of senior pupils. We will be very sad to say farewell to this year’s Form VI who have been so well led by Angus Sutherland and Julie Fergusson, but we look forward to welcoming them back to the Academy for Sports Weekends in future which we hope will be dry and sunny throughout.

I wish you all an excellent summer break and thank everybody who has been involved in this busy but thoroughly worthwhile summer term.

Kindest regards,

John Robertson MA
Rector

PUPILS

Art Competition
In the National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools, Rebecca Walker (II) was placed first in her age group, and Jayne Stirling (I) was highly commended. Louis Stewart (J2) came first in his age group, and Pravar Seth (P4) was highly commended. There was national press publicity for the awards and the four pupils attended the prize ceremony in the National Gallery in mid-June.

Athletics
In the Scottish Schools Athletics Championships, Caitlyn Mackie (V) won Gold in the Over 17 Girls Hammer. Rhianydd Parry (V) won Under-17 Girls Hammer and Discus. Michael Gillespie (VI) won Silver in the Over-17 Boys 5,000 metres. In the Forth Valley Athletics Competition, Dollar girls won the overall best team in each of the three age groups, Form I, Form II and Form III. The Form I boys likewise formed the best team in their age group. In assembly, Ellen Houston (III) collected the shield won by Dollar Academy for their overall success in the championship.

Badminton
The winners of this year’s Form I and II badminton tournament were Adam Mackie (I) (Singles), Ruari Jardine (I) and Adam Mackie (Doubles), and Eden Wood (I) was top girl.

Book Group
The P5 and Junior 1 Book Group visited Stirling to hear Colin Foreman, the writer, read an extract from his latest book. Waterstones had run a competition where pupils were asked to write a hundred word review of a Foreman book. The winner was Lewis Aitchison and the runner-up Laura Broomfield (both in P5).

Chess
Jamie Melling, Tim Torrance and Harris Aslam (all J1) came third of the fifteen regional teams contesting the Scottish Primary Chess Championship. They will be eligible to compete again next year. Even more significantly, Adam Shannon (J2) won all of his individual games and the medal for the best player in the tournament. Mr Delaney pointed out that Dollar thus boasts the best senior and junior school chess players in Scotland, as Chris Macdonald (VI) has for long been recognised as the top player.

Dancing
Lucy Ferguson and Laura Manson (P5) won the shield for the most improved dancers for 2007 at Dollar Dance Group.

Debating
In the annual Balloon Debate which pits the wits of the Senior Six against each other, Gregor Ross, Deputy Head Boy was the winner. The others were ejected from the balloon. In the rather more serious Academy Debating Competition, with the motion that “This house values abstinence over experience”, an extremely high standard was reached. The eventual winners, narrowly, were Harriet James and Angus Sutherland (both VI).

Football
Adam Dearden (II) has been signed on a two-year schoolboy contract with Celtic.

Equestrian Vaulting
Again, Hannah Eccles (IV) and Joanne, her sister who is a recent FP have been involved in international vaulting competition. On this occasion, they have participated in a major event in Brno in the Czech Republic. Joanne has also been invited to the Masters Competition in Aachen in July. Once again, the young vaulters have met with considerable success, with Joanne Eccles winning the British Equestrian Vaulting Competition (Female Individual), while she and her sister Hannah joined with others to form the winning Scottish Equestrian Vaulting Senior Team in the Advanced Team Competition.

European Integration Project
Flora Murray (VI) is to be congratulated on her selection as the Scottish representative for a week-long programme in France this summer, Jeunesse en Europe, organised by Experiment France. She will be one of ten eighteen to twenty-four year olds who will be spending time in Paris and Toulouse discussing European integration. Day trips and seminars will take place throughout her week.

First Aid Competition
In the Tenth Annual Scottish ACFA First Aid Championships, Dollar Academy once again triumphed in the CCF section of the competition. The A team, consisting of Sarah Barcroft, Catherine Hobart (both VI), Timothy Hasler (IV) and Aleana Lewis (II) won the overall competition, while the B team of Charlie Johnson, Jamie Maxwell, George Anderson (all III) and David Barcroft (II) was placed second. The “Reserve Prize” was won by David Barcroft, and Aleana Lewis was awarded a medal for the highest score in an individual test.

Head Girl, Head Boy and Deputies 2007-2008
Katy Simpson and Sean Sarafilovic have been appointed Head Girl and Head Boy for next session. Their Deputies are Eilish Busby, Joanna Carson, Robbie Shedden and James Smith.

Hockey
Tarni Duhré (V) has been appointed Hockey Captain for next session. Fiona Carstairs (V) will be her Vice Captain and Lynsey Mackay (V), the Secretary. Caroline Brewster and Talia Sarafilovic (both III) are congratulated on their selection for the Midlands U-15 Hockey Squad.

Moonwalk
Carol Roberts (III) and Jennifer Rogerson (II) took part in the Moonwalk, completing the half marathon challenge in three and a half hours. Only 144 walkers under eighteen took part in the crowd of 10,000, and the girls are congratulated on their achievement.

Table Tennis
Corinna Whitaker (V) has become Scottish National Junior Table Tennis Champion, and has finally been ranked No 1 Junior (U-18) in Scotland. She has recently competed in Jaipur, and was taking part in the British Schools Championships in Guernsey during Sports Weekend. This summer she will play in Sweden, Bratislava, Ostend and Coventry. She has achieved great things in her sport.

Rugby
Liam McGee (VI) left slightly early at the end of term as he had been selected for the Trinidad and Tobago U-19 squad to take part in the Caribbean U-19 Rugby Championship. The Rugby Club office bearers for 2007-2008 have been appointed: Bill Auld (Captain), Jamie Webb (Vice Captain), and Alistair Cummings and Angus Tester (Joint Secretaries). All are in Form V.

Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums
The Dollar bands had a very successful day once again in the Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums competition hosted by Erskine Stewart’s Melville at Ravelston. Ten schools and nine pipe bands took part, with over 100 individual competitors. Dollar was placed in every one of the ten events:

Dollar Academy’s A band won the pipe band competition for the eighth consecutive year and Pipe Major Sean Sarafilovic (V) collected the splendid Scottish Easter Schools OTC Band Challenge Trophy. Dollar’s B band achieved fifth position in the overall competition.

Tennis
The Dollar boys tennis team has had a most successful season, losing only once – in the very last match. There were particularly pleasing victories recorded over Glenalmond College (by 7 sets to 2) and Strathallan (in a narrow match by 5 sets to 4). In the Kilgraston Girls Tournament, Emma Donoghue and Kirsten Duff (both III) won the U-16 tournament, while Ailsa Bridges and Rachel Mills (both II) were runners-up in the U-14 tournament.

Writing
For the first time ever, a pupil from Dollar entered the Gilbert Murray Writing Competition held by the Classics Department of University of Glasgow. Ruth Cameron (I) was awarded a Certificate of Merit for her imaginative reconstruction of a perilous few hours in the life of a stallholder during a riot in the amphitheatre in Pompeii.

Two Dollar Academy senior pupils have had their work published in the SQA publication Write Times. The contributors were Kirsty Cook (VI) and Rachel Hill (V) who both wrote non-fiction pieces.

NEWS

The Cameron Travel Scholarship Trust
As will have been noted in the press, the Chairman of Governors, Mr John Cameron and his wife Margaret have set up a trust of over £1 million which aims to support agricultural students, and pupils from Dollar Academy who wish to widen their experience by travelling abroad to learn and explore. Further details will be available on the Trust website in due course, but it is hoped that the first Dollar Academy pupils will be presented at next year’s Prizegiving; the agricultural students will be presented with their award at the Highland Show. The whole school community has been greatly touched by the generosity of this project.

Tesco Computers for School Vouchers
Thank you so much to all members of staff who have encouraged the remarkable number of Tesco vouchers which have arrived to date this year. Almost 35,000 vouchers have reached the school, and if there are any more to arrive, Mr Marchant will be very grateful. Thank you to everyone involved in this project.

Lifeguarding Skills
The official publication of the Scottish Swimming Association praises Dollar Academy for being the only independent school in Scotland, if not the UK, to offer a Pool Lifeguard qualification as part of the normal timetable. Twelve pupils split into two groups had four hours a week of tuition from Mr Russell Kidd, the Pool Manager.

Food Hygiene Course
All pupils in Form VI who attended the elementary food hygiene course as part of their “Survival Cookery” module have passed and have received certificates from the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland.

Form I Activities Day
Following the extremely successful first event last session, Form I have taken part in a further full day of activity this summer term designed to make them more aware of the opportunities available for collaborative learning here in Dollar Academy.

CHARITIES COMMITTEE AND OTHER NEWS

During the course of summer term, the Charities Committee has continued its fundraising with two particular projects in mind. There will be a contribution to the Scottish Youth Theatre in memory of Sam Cartwright (FP 2005) and to the laboratory for research into blood cancers in memory of Paul Abraham (FP 1993). This year, a number of members of staff volunteered to be assaulted by custard pies, with an auction driving up the bidding. Over £1,000 was raised during one lunchtime which saw assaults on eleven willing members of staff. The committee is greatly thanked for all its work throughout this session. The final sums raised will be publicised in due course.

FORMER PUPILS

Degree News
The universities which send information regarding degrees usually make contact during the summer. Nevertheless, word has reached the Academy of a number of outstanding achievements of recent former pupils, and it is only right to pass on this information: Ilona Cairns (Law), Craig Waterson (Physics) and Vernon Baxter (English) have all gained First Class Honours degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Lindsay McPherson, who was a boarder in Argyll House, gained a First from Aberdeen in Marine Biology, while Jenny Lister has gained a First in History from St Andrews. Richard Nicolson follows in his father’s footsteps by gaining a First in Law from the University of Glasgow, and there may well be other outstanding results which have not as yet reached the school. Nevertheless, we cannot recall a year in which so many Firsts were gained.

Golf
Scott Borrowman (FP 2005), who won the Scottish U-16 boys title in 2003, added another national title to his collection on Sunday of Sports Weekend when he won the Scottish Youths Open Amateur Strokeplay Championship, with a 9-under-par total of 275 over the four rounds. He was particularly delighted to hold off the powerful English challenge from an East Sussex national player by two strokes. Scott had recently finished second in the West of Scotland Open Amateur Championship and was selected to play for Scotland at Youth level against Ireland. He is in his second year of a four-year golf scholarship programme at Stirling University and was a member of the six-man team which won the recent British Universities Golf Championship at Hoiyake.

Emily Ogilvie (FP 2002) finished runner-up in the Scottish Ladies Amateur Golf Championship and was selected to play for Scotland in the European Womens Team Championship in Italy. Emily has just finished four years of a golf scholarship programme at Little Rock University in Arizona.

STAFF

Staff Farewells
We said farewell at the end of session 2006-2007 to a number of colleagues, whose names were listed in the last newsletter. We must also thank Mr Francis-Jones (Physics) and Miss Georgina McMaster (Art) who have provided excellent cover during the maternity leaves in the departments.

Edinburgh Moonwalk 2007
Five members of the Dollar Academy office staff bravely took part in the MoonWalk on a very wet Saturday in mid June in Edinburgh. The Dollar Mixtures, in their beautifully decorated bras were aiming to raise large sums of money for vital breast cancer research. Last year a colleague had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the members of the office staff experienced at first hand the fear, pain and uncertainty brought about by breast cancer. The walkers all indicate that if ever a positive experience came from a negative one, this was it. It was certainly a team-building event with a difference – and the group raised over £4,500.

Sponsored Cross-Country Race
Over £12,500 was raised during the cross-country races this year. The serious illness of Mrs Sandra Morgan, who had retired in December after many years of excellent work in the Support for Learning Department, acted as the stimulus for the initiative. Mr Steve Newton (Head of PE) and Mrs Elan Borrowman set about the task of encouraging financial support from the Academy, and everyone has been overwhelmed by the response. Currently, £2,000 has gone to the Accident and Emergency Unit at Stirling Royal Infirmary; £3,000 to the High Dependency Unit in the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and a similar sum to Ward 33 in the Neurological Unit of the same hospital. £3,000 has gone to Ward 15 in Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary. The remaining monies will be shared after the collection is completed. Mrs Borrowman personally raised over £4,000 with her run.

Presentations were made in assembly, and Mr Angus Morgan wishes to pass on his immense thanks on behalf of the family to all those who have contributed. His daughter Joanna, who had been Head Girl here in 1987-1988, was also present during the presentation. Mrs Morgan continues to make a slow recovery, and she is well aware of the wonderful community support which has been offered in the light of her illness.

Chemistry Department
Dr Beveridge filed a report on the Chemistry Department’s activities in June, and it makes fascinating reading. Dr Beveridge was the joint organiser of a national meeting for teachers of chemistry held in the University of St Andrews which welcomed 200 chemistry teachers from all over Scotland. Sadly, the attempt at the time to create a world record for the manufacture of ice cream was just outside the world record of 31 seconds held by an English physicist. Dr Beveridge, Mrs Carmichael and Mr Smith ran a residential school for Postgraduate Diploma students in Edinburgh which was attended by every future chemistry teacher in Scotland. Dr Johnson addressed a gathering of Moray House students on what it was like to be a newly qualified teacher, and Dr Beveridge, having run a summer school for teachers of chemistry in Edinburgh University, gave a lecture demonstration on Enlivening Chemistry Teaching at Heriot-Watt University. The work of the department, particularly in developing teaching methodology, has gained a national reputation in recent years. It was particularly pleasing to receive a congratulatory letter from a senior member of the Moray House staff who indicated that Dr Johnson’s presentation in terms of his clear and confident delivery set a challenging target for all the students about to go into schools in August 2007.

Biology Footnote
Regular readers of the newsletter will know that the Biology Department has set the standard in terms of external contact and powerful impact on science education nationally and beyond. In the past month, Mr Morton has produced his fifth biology textbook, Mrs Smith has been involved in Biotechnology work, particularly with the Edinburgh University Summer School, various members of the department have been off with SQA work, there has been enormous involvement with Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and yet two days have been found for teaching surfing. The summer biology trip to Malaysia will almost seem conventional.

HELP PLEASE

Repeat Notice
Once again, many thanks to everyone who has sent in Tesco vouchers. Mr Marchant is delighted to note the impact of the vouchers on our annual IT budget. If you have any further vouchers, please send them to the school office as quickly as possible, as the offer has now closed.

Thrift Shop Opening – 2:30pm – 4:00pm (2nd and 4th Thursday of the month)

The Thrift Shop will also be open on the afternoon of Wednesday 22 August, before term starts on the 23rd.

The Thrift Shop has had a very successful year and is now low in stock, particularly of tunics and kilts. Current uniform in good condition may be handed in at the Thrift Shop during opening times.

MAIN DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

DUNFERMLINE BUS CHARGES - 2006-2007 and 2007-2008

Dr Hendry writes:

Final bus charges have been passed to the Bursar. Total costs for the academic year were £55,000. Term 3 bills were fixed by calculating the fare-stage cost (42p) over the entire year, each pupil’s bill for the entire year and then subtracting the payments made by each pupil in Terms 1 and 2.

Rennies of Dunfermline, after holding their charges to us fixed for four years, are raising their daily charge from £310 to £400. This will be passed on to users from August 2007. The main reasons for the increase are quoted as “fuel and wage costs” and the impact of “introduction of further European regulations on driving time”. Based on this year’s cost, and assuming the same number of passengers, it is likely that the fare-stage cost will rise to approximately 50p.