Reviews

A-level Government and Politics Trip to the Houses of Parliament

At 7.00am on 26th September eight A-level students, armed with newspapers and some razor-sharp questions, set off from Waverley Station to visit the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. From Embankment we went on a brief walking tour – enjoying the views from Jubilee Bridge and exploring parts of Whitehall. We arrived at Portcullis House and had lunch in the Jubilee café inside Parliament. We were joined by Dan Abernethy who researches for the conservative MP Ed Vaizey. This was followed by an impromptu talk by Paul Jackson, the deputy secretary of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. He took some good questions from the group and allowed us to look round his office.

The official tour then got under way and we had a chance to grill Dr Euan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP of Oxford West and Abingdon. Our group managed to ask some cutting and intelligent questions and certainly gained a lot from the experience. Finally, before catching the train back home, we got a fantastically entertaining and informative tour of the Houses of Parliament including both the House of Lords and House of Commons. It was a hectic but very enjoyable day.

CMD Turley

Harvest festival – Stop climate change!

This time of the year is the traditional time for celebrating the Harvest. The theme for last week’s assemblies was  both thanksgiving for the wonders and the bounty of the natural world, but also a call for action to halt climate change. The week concluded with a School Service led by Brian Hilsley, minister of Wardie Church. We are most grateful to him for coming to lead our service. He reminded us that care for the environment is an ancient demand upon us all, rooted in the Jewish tradition.

Earlier in the week extracts were shown in assembly from Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” and the whole film was shown every lunchtime in the Science Lecture Theatre. This is a very powerful film, giving the scientific evidence for climate change and the serious threat that it poses to our world. It also gives proposals for action and invites each one of us to take responsibility for our carbon footprint.  Our Eco Schools group had been working on devising an Eco Code for the Senior School and on Thursday ten boys from 2A presented these at assembly.

This is the code we have agreed on. It will be displayed in classrooms and we hope that we can play our part as an institution in preserving our environment. Turn it Off stickers are being placed by each light switch, and plans are being made to install recycling facilities at the Henderson Row site.

OUR GREEN GOALS

G reen travel: walk, cycle, get the bus or train.
R ecycle cans, bottles, paper.
E conomise with paper, use both sides.
E ducate yourselves, educate your parents
N ever leave litter.
G o green. Buy recycled products
O ff with lights when not needed.
A void food waste
L ook after our world.
S ecure the future.

Sport

Junior School

P6 Rugby v Stewart’s Melville

1sts Drew 4-4
2nds Drew 2-2
3rds Lost 6-0
4ths Won 5-2
A very competitive series of games saw the boys come back from behind showing determination in the tackle and a real strength of character. Well done, boys! Thankyou to all who supported the games.
Mark Enos, Head of PE

U11 Rugby Sevens Tournament

at the Junior School on Sunday 25^th November from 11am-1.30pm.

Our annual rugby sevens event sees the return of 10 teams including Watsons, Heriots and Strathallan, amongst others, to do battle with our junior school boys. Last year’s event finished with Watsons winning in extra time by a ‘golden try’. Please come and support the boys in what always proves to be an exciting day of rugby.

Senior School

HOCKEY

Sat 29th September

1^st XI v Balerno Lost 0-4

U15 v Balerno Lost 1-4

RUGBY

1st XV v Stewart’s Melville: Won 36-12

Stewart’s Melville must have had 70% of possession in this game yet after 60 minutes the Academy were 36 -0 up. Some tremendous scramble defence kept Stewart’s from scoring and every time we managed to secure some decent ball we seemed to score. It was not that the Stewart’s Melville defence was poor, but our backs in particular played very well hitting the ball at pace and passing and off-loading with accuracy. Some excellent tries were scored: if we can get some ball we will threaten any side.

Try scorers: Brown 2, Ballantine, Greig, Muluzi;  Conversions: Blair 4, and one penalty

Dollar next week, 2.30pm (a), will be a real test as Dollar have a particularly large set of forwards. It will need a terrier-like performance from our forwards to nullify this threat.

Tom Brown has been selected to train with the full Scotland sevens squad. While still only 17 years old this is an outstanding achievement

Saturday 29 September 2007

Notices

Dollar Rugby matches: Saturday pm

It is advisable that all rugby players who are involved in Saturday’s Open Day and then Dollar rugby matches in the afternoon bring a packed lunch as the school will not be providing any food.

PE Dept

The Uniform Exchange

Will be open on Wednesday 3rd October 2.30 - 4.30 but due to Open Day will NOT be open on Saturday 6th.

Sally Hood  552 3013

School Office Half Term Opening Hours

All offices will be closed on Monday 15^th and Tuesday 16^th October.  There will be a skeleton staff on Wednesday 17^th, Thursday 18^th and Friday 19^th October to deal with any telephone enquiries.

Music Calendar for 2007/8

These are now available, and give information on most of this year’s main events; please collect one from the School Office or from the Music Department. We are especially keen that all parents of singers and instrumentalists have as much advance warning of concert dates as possible.

Congratulations

To Ashley Leiper, Jack Davis and Iain Simpson, who with former pupil Jake Barry won the zonal stage of the Battle of the Bands at Portobello High School on Saturday.

Australian exchange

An opportunity for a pupil exists to do a two month exchange with a pupil at Scots College Sydney Australia. This would probably suit a pupil in our present 5^th or 6^th form after they have completed their GCSE or Higher exams. They would then leave for Australia after their exams and spend the rest of the summer term and some of the summer holiday out at Scots College. The Edinburgh Academy pupil would spend some of the time in one of The Scots College boarding Houses and some with the host family. The only expense would be airfare and spending money. The selected pupil, to quote The Scots College Coordinator of International Programs would have a “fabulous experience of Sydney”. Check out the Website www.Scotscollege.com.au

The Australian Student would come to the UK at the end of April and leave at the end of June. He would need to spend the eight weeks with the host family

Anybody interested should see Mr Saunders ASAP.

Parents Association

Big Christmas 2007

Edinburgh Academy Senior School, Friday 16th November 7.30-10pm: Private Preview  

A fantastic opportunity to meet up with friends old and new, have a drink and do some christmas shopping too at EAPFA Christmas Fair including high quality commercial stalls - wide range of jewellery and designer accessories, gifts, gourmet food and drink and lots more! 

Tickets now on sale! Numbers strictly limited, and available in advance only! £10 per ticket to include glass of fizz, canapés and a little bit of entertainment too! More fizz on sale!

To book tickets contact Tory Craig 07745130987 or torylintoncraig@aol.com or Jane Bredin 07984815651 or Janebredin@btinternet.com

Also open to general public Saturday 17th November 11am - 4pm.

Academicals In the News

We are sad to announce the death, at the age of 54, of ornithologist Dr Jeff Watson (62-70) on 19th September. Jeff was a world-acknowledged expert on golden eagles. He was a keen photographer and a tribute to him in The Herald also mentioned his evocative landscapes, comparing them favourably with the hill and raptor paintings of his father, Donald Watson (32-37), who died in November 2005.

In the business world, Keith Miller (68-74) was, as predicted last month, in the news again, commenting on his interim profit announcement against the background of what he referred to as 'a pretty tough market on the housing side'. Another Accie property man featuring in The Scotsman's business pages recently was Nick Hooke (70-82), a lawyer specialising in commercial property leases. Nick was described by one of his colleagues as 'a bread-and-butter commercial property lawyer working at the coalface'. Nick's comment on property in Edinburgh… 'there are plenty of properties out there but I have a bit of a suspicion about the domestic market'. In the medical world, Alan Robertson (87-97) has been elected as chairman of the BMA's Scottish Junior Doctor's Committee. There was an interview with him in Medical News Today of 4th September. In what must be his rapidly diminishing spare time, Alan is also webmaster of the Accies' website, www.accie.org.

To the arts and on 1st September The Scotsman carried an interview with Iain Glen (66-79), who is the star of Niall Heery's new film, Small Engine Repair. Iain is described as having 'a cracking singing voice' and as being (girls take note) 'one of Scotland's handsomest men'. Iain's class-mate Angus Farquhar (68-79) also had his work extensively reviewed in The Scotsman this month. His latest show, Half Life, involves an exploration of prehistoric sites and landmarks in Kilmartin Glen before an open-air theatre performance by the National Theatre of Scotland who are co-producing the spectacle. Nicky Campbell (66-78) appeared on TV recently in the BBC series Who do you think you are?, in which he explored the history of his adoptive parents. The prelude to this, his book, Blue-Eyed Son, about his blood parents, was published in 2004.

Moving, then, to the literary scene, Ninian Dunnett (64-78) has written an introduction to a book by his late father, Alastair Dunnett. The Canoe Boys, originally published in 1950 under the title Quest by Canoe and telling the story of a canoe voyage up the west coast of Scotland in the 1930s, was warmly reviewed in The Scotsman on 15th September. Another book recently reviewed in The Scotsman was Suffer and Survive, which tells the story of John Scott Haldane (1870-76), inventor of, amongst other things, the gas mask. John is described as being 'a medical adventurer in an epic quest to personally explore the limits to human endurance and save lives'.

In the sports pages, the rugby World Cup has provided a focus for mentions of Accies. Mike Blair (86-99) featured as 'a key man for Scotland' in a Scotsman article before the Portugal match and there was a good picture of David Callam (87-91) on the steps of a plane heading off to France. Mike played scrum-half in Scotland's wins against Portugal on 9th September, Romania (18th September) and Italy (29th September). David was No 8 in the match against the All Blacks on 23rd September. But Accies have not only featured on the field of play: in an article in Scotland on Sunday at the start of the month, naturalised New Zealand rugby commentator Gregor Paul (86-91) assessed the All Blacks’ chances and the character of one of their main players, Jerry Collins.

My thanks to Rob Cowie and Jake Young for feeding me with news cuttings this month. If anyone else notices an Accie in the news, please let me know or hand the cutting in at the school office.

Alan Fyfe

What's On?

Book Launch: Nine Valiant Academicals

Wednesday 3rd October  6:00 pm for 6:30 pm  in the Main Hall

Readers are reminded about the book launch on Wednesday of "Nine Valiant Academicals" by Academical Alasdair Macintyre (43-50), as advertised in the last News Sheet. Further details can be found on the Academical Club website, www.accie.org.

Music Rehearsals

Friday 5^th October

Because of Open Day preparations, rehearsals on Friday afternoon will be half-an-hour earlier than usual:

3.00 Senior Orchestra and Concert Band

4.30 Dance Band

Open Day

Saturday 6th October

Junior School 10.00am – 12.30pm

Senior School 11.00am – 2.00pm

Mountaineering Club Junior Meet

Sunday 7th October  9.00am

We are planning to visit Ben Ledi: details from Mr Fenton – quickly, please!

Field Day

Tuesday 9^th October

This is a day of special activities at the Senior School:

Geits History fieldwork at St Andrews

2nds Geography fieldwork

3rds either at Outdoor Activities Course, or special arrangements in school from 9.15 to 3.00.

4ths and 5ths CCF

6ths and 7ths Coursework day (at home or in school), plus an Art Trip

Instructions should have been given by those in charge.

Half-Term

Thursday 11th – Sunday 21st October

The Senior School finishes at 3.00pm on Wednesday 10th. School re-starts on Monday 22nd.

Christmas Sale

Thursday 25^th October, 10.30am – 4.00pm & 6.00pm – 8.00pm, Greenfield Lodge, Lasswade

Daphne Farquharson, Sheila Murray, Sarah Dollman, Sally Younger, Lynn Greenshields, Jennifer Macrae and Gilly Younger invite you to a Christmas Sale in aid of Wellbeing of Women.  Christmas cards, home baking & craft stalls.  Please come and bring your friends.