The Edinburgh Academy Junior School

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Junior School Pupil Council EA logo

Edinburgh Academy Junior School  pupil council in session

Introduction

The Edinburgh Academy Junior School Pupil Council meets approximately every three weeks to discuss a range of issues which concern the pupils.

These meetings are chaired by Mrs Bashford but are also often attended by other teachers who have a specific interest in the day’s agenda items.

Elections

Each elected councillor represents one of the P3-6 classes and has the responsibility to air the views of their classmates and to report back to them after every meeting. This means that each and every child at the school can have their thoughts heard.

The pupil council have recently helped to choose a range of new playground equipment to be bought using Schools vouchers from Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

A meeting was held on Friday, 21 November 2008

All members of the council were present

Matters arising from last meeting:

  • All classes had handed in their questionnaires – Mrs Bashford will look at the results and report back to the next meeting.
  • It was disappointing to note that some children are NOT paying attention to notices given from their Pupil Council reps. This came to light that following a decision taken at the last meeting that children are still bringing balls to the Astroturf on a Tuesday and Thursday, when balls are BANNED.
  • There should be no scrums / contact / rugby games taking place on the Astroturf. It is too dangerous. Children will lose GT if disobeying this rule.
  • There should be no American footballs.
  • Mrs Bashford has spoken with the kitchen staff about the concerns raised at the last meeting the following decisions were made:
  • Fish will be on the menu every alternate Friday. A new type of fish is being sourced and it is hoped that more children will like this variety. Hamburgers will be on the menu every other Friday.
  • There will be larger portions given to the older children and children have only to ask for larger portions, if still hungry.
  • Parents will be invited in to taste the lunches next term.

House system

Mr Dean was welcomed to the meeting to hear the results of the recent survey about introducing a house system to the Junior School. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of taking this forward. Mr Dean said he was willing to take this forward and he then invited suggestions from all council members.

  • Advantages and disadvantages were discussed and the importance of tying this in with our current GT arrangements.
  • Suggestions for various house events were put forward: hockey, netball, football, chess, concerts, dramas.
  • House captains would be voted on by both staff and pupils. These would come from P6.
  • Staff would be allocated a house.
  • 1000 points to be given to each house as a starting point.
  • Should happy / sad points be awarded?
  • A particular focus might be adopted by the school, eg manners and during that limited period, children could earn house points.
  • There should be a dedicated area in the classroom to display house points and the points awarded to each individual.
  • Points would be added up every Friday and special mention made in assembly. The winning house each week could earn five minutes of extra playtime.
  • Winning house would earn ‘a party!’
  • Those, who managed to keep all their GT, could earn house points.

Mr Dean agreed to take all these suggestions away and bring back a plan of action to the next meeting. The next meeting will take place on Friday, 5 th December at 1 pm in the Science lab. A big thank you to Mr Zbikowski.

Euroquiz National Final

Monday 12th May 2008

It is with huge pleasure that I announce that the Edinburgh Academy Junior School team won the Euroquiz National Final held at the Scottish Parliament in May 2008. 

In a field of 25 teams from across Scotland, a score of 136 out of 140 took them to the final round where they faced West Kilbride Primary School.  They proved unbeatable in a tense buzzer round where they triumphed 9-7.   I am immensely proud of Patrick Christie (P6M), Saul Melvin-Farr (P6M), Adair Wood (P6K), Alasdair Gillies (P6R) and Peter Jacobs (P6R) for their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm throughout the competition and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them on an outstanding victory. 

The Euroquiz team would like to thank Scottish European Educational Trust (SEET), Standard Life and The Scottish Parliament for a truly special day.

Colin McCloghry

Euroquiz winners Euroquiz winners

A contestant's story

It all began in Broomlee when Mr McCloghry asked if anyone would like to be in the Euroquiz squad. About thirty people in P6 tried and in the end only five made it: Alasdair Gillies, Peter Jacobs, Saul Melvin-Farr, Adair Wood and I.

We did lots of work and research and learning of facts and had loads of meetings and then we went to the Edinburgh heat and won. This meant that we went on to the final at the Scottish Parliament against twenty-five other schools who had won their heats.

We got to the Parliament at 12 o’clock on Monday, 12 May 2008, and about an hour later went into the debating chamber, which made me feel really scared and excited at the same time. The first round commenced quickly — it was multiple choice, and we were not allowed to confer, which made it a lot more difficult than other rounds, but we managed a fantastic 99/100 (the best score).

The next round was easier, because we could confer, but the questions were slightly harder — even so that didn’t stop us getting 20/20.

The third round was hardest of all, with some complete curve balls about which we had no idea and just had to guess. We got a few of these wrong, but not many, and ended up with 17/20. This meant that we had the top score (136/140) across the three rounds, and were in the final against West Kilbride, who were second with 134/140.

The final round was on the buzzer and it was hard. Mrs Bashford was on the edge of her seat in the audience! We just scraped a win against West Kilbride, who were really good (9 against 7).

We were presented with a trophy and then went to a reception and did some TV interviews, which scared us to death! We REALLY enjoyed the experience and would urge people to do it, as they will remember it for ever and ever.
Patrick Christie P6M

Euroquiz team
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