Reviews

World Book Week

The junior school celebrated the end of world book week 2008 with a Roald Dahl fancy dress parade. The photograph shows The BFG and one of his Snozcumbers!

Each child donated £1 for the privilege of ditching their uniform for the day and transforming into a Roald Dahl character. The teachers joined in too. All proceeds have been donated to the Roald Dahl foundation.

Congratulations!

Crispin Joseph (P5T) won first prize in the Young Violin Soloists competition, Level 1, in the Edinburgh Festival of Music, Speech and Dance held at St Cuthbert's Church on Thursday 28 February. The adjudicator was Viviane Ronchetti, Professor of Violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Director of the National Youth Strings Academy.

EAMC 100th Junior Meet

On Sunday the summit of Ben Vrackie was taken over by a very large Academy party, and the Centenary Meet was celebrated. In the background was a snowy Schiehallion, where in October 1974 the newly formed Mountaineering Club held its first Junior Meet for boys in Geits-3rds.

Since the start 13 different hills have been visited in a nine-meet cycle, the most popular being Ben Ledi and Ben Cleuch (12 times); the Killin hills (11); White Coomb and Ben Vrackie (10); Ben Vorlich, Glenshee hills and the Cobbler (9). The number of mountaineers has probably averaged about 30; at first a coach was hired, but recently a minibus and cars have provided transport as more family groups have come. We have somehow managed to reach the 100 mark without any serious injuries or mountain rescue call-outs! On every meet except one (Ben Vorlich), at least one party has reached its summit. Only one has been cancelled - in the foot-and-mouth epidemic (Ben Vorlich). Two have had their venue changed by the weather: Ben Vorlich yet again, and last Sunday's one...

The aim was to climb Ben Lomond: but east was best on the day, and even there we were promised heavy showers and strong winds. Ben Vrackie was the hill (it had also been the 50th), and turned out to be dry and not very windy. 41 people and 4 dogs came, in a fleet of vehicles which filled the walkers' car park. We walked in one very long party (not recommended mountaineering practice, and bad luck on the other walkers who met us...), and reached the 841 metre summit in good time. Cloud swirled around, the few snow patches were duly destroyed in the name of snowballing, champagne (sort of) was sipped, pictures were taken; and then we set off down the pathless and complicated western slopes, mostly walking, but the Geits for some reason preferring to tumble down in the heather. We eventually reached the Bealach path and so arrived back at the vehicles in sunshine.

Unexpectedly good weather, an ideal junior mountain and a happy band of mountaineers made it a worthy centenary celebration.
JJC Fenton

Parents Association

The Big Picnic 2008

Saturday 21st June

Still needed -  more volunteers to help out during the day - any offers welcome!

And if you're doing any spring cleaning/house moving/clearing out in the Easter holidays please remember we will be looking for: - Empty jam jars (clean, with lids)- Full bottles of anything (within sell by date)- Toys- Books- Bric-a brac- DVDs/CDs/videos etc

Any offers of help etc please contact Tory Craig 07745130987 torylintoncraig@aol.com

What's On?

Own Clothes Day

Wednesday 12th March

The Senior School has an Own Clothes Day tomorrow, Wednesday, in aid of the school charity.

Come to school in non-uniform for a payment of £2.

The Mikado

March 13th, 14th and 15th at 7.30pm   Junior School Hall

The Senior School Musical this year is the most famous and popular Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

Tickets available from the Senior School Office: £6 and £3 (concessions).

Please note that performances are in the Junior School Hall.

Chamber Concert

Tuesday 18th March   7.30pm  Main Hall

A programme of music performed by the Chamber Choir and our smaller instrumental ensembles.

Admission free – no tickets. Parking in the yards. All welcome!

Lunchtime Concert

Tuesday 18th March   12.45   Robertson Room

Provisionally to include performances by Matthew Zegleman (alto sax) and pianists Kieran Baker, Finlay Clark, Colin Steedman, Jamie Hartop, Kyung Jae Park, Iona Tweedie and Artem Pleshakov.

Music Marathon

Saturday 12th April 3.00-9.00pm   Main Hall

Six hours of music performed and organised by those going on the orchestral trip to Italy in October. We would be grateful for your sponsorship (in aid of tour fundraising and the Practice-a-thon Malcolm Sargent Cancer Care for Children scheme).

Everyone is welcome to come and listen/observe for any length of time!

St Giles at Six

Sunday 20th April 6pm St Giles Cathedral

Concert given by Chamber Choir and instrumental ensembles. Admission free – all welcome.

Cricket Shop

Wednesday 19th March   12.30–1.40pm   Henderson Row gym

Provan Sports will be setting up a cricket stall in the Gym for the sale of  cricket equipment. They will have a range of bats, pads, gloves, helmets, balls and cricket shoes.

Edinburgh Academicals FC v Barbarians FC: 150th Anniversary Match

9th April 2008

Please note that Scotland’s Calcutta Cup winning captain Mike Blair and a number of other internationalists from Edinburgh Rugby will be attending this match.

The school are participating in the 150th celebrations at Raeburn Place. In exhibition matches our U15 team will play against the BATs U15 team and the Accies Mini section will feature boys from The Academy.  In addition, the Edinburgh Academy Pipe Band will provide pre match entertainment. 

Gates will open at 3.30pm and the curtain raiser matches will be from 4.30pm. The main match has a 6.00pm kick off.

For further details see www.edinburghaccies.com .This is an ALL TICKET match and tickets will not be available on the day. Tickets (Adult £10 and child £5) can be purchased online via www.edinburghrugby.org or by telephone 0131 346 5180.  Do book now to avoid possible disappointment.

The Edinburgh Academy Ball 2008

Friday November 7th

Please note the date of the Academy Ball, to be held at the Assembly Rooms, George Street.

For those of you not familiar with this event, it is a black tie dinner with dancing (both ceilidh and rock and roll) open to parents and staff from both junior and senior schools, nursery to 7ths. Tables of 10 will be available to be reserved after Easter. The Ball is held every two years and it is a very popular event in the school calendar. Any profit goes towards projects in the school including sport and music tours.

Please mark the date in your diary and organise your tables. More information on booking and ticket prices will be available at the beginning of next term.

Notices

News Sheet

Next week’s News Sheet will be the last of the term. The term ends on Thursday 20th March.

End of Term

Please note that on Thursday 20th March, P1/2 finish at 2pm, P3-6 at 2.10pm and Senior School at 3pm. Mackenzie House After School Club will operate till 5pm only. Prior booking is essential. If you have not received a booking form for this already and need to book, please contact Shelagh Sharp 624 4908, or afterschool@edinburghacademy.org.uk

Also note there will be no after school activities in the last week of term, Monday 17th to Thursday 20th March. Booking for Mackenzie House After School Club on these days is essential. There are only a few places left and it may not be possible to take extras on the day. Contact S Sharp 624 4908 or afterschool@edinburghacademy.org.uk

Holiday Club

Holiday Club will be running in Mackenzie House from Tuesday 25th March to Friday 4th April. If you have not received a booking form for that or a confirmation from me of a place if you have already completed one, please contact Shelagh Sharp 624 4908 or afterschool@edinburghacademy.org.uk

The Sports Centre is also running an Easter Holiday Camp for ages 5-14 years. Please contact Andy Utterson on 624 4900 or by email to au@edinburghacademy.org.uk

Enterprise Shop Holiday Opening Hours

The Enterprise Shop at Henderson Row will be open at the following times during the Easter Holidays:

Wednesday/Thursday & Friday 26th/27th/28th March, 10am to 2pm
Saturday 29th March, 10am to 1pm
Wednesday/Thursday/ & Friday 2nd/3rd/4th April, 10am to 2pm
Saturday 5th April, 10am to 1pm
Monday & Tuesday 7th/8th April, 10am to 3pm.

All summer sports kit should be available from 26th March. If requested, orders can be delivered to the Junior School or Senior School offices for collection.

Bluebell Ball

A date for your diaries! The annual Bluebell Ball (in aid of Post-Natal Depression services) will be held on Friday 18th April at Prestonfield House Hotel. Staff at the hotel have described this event as ‘one of the most stunning’ in their calendar. More information available from Sarah Martin on 0131 657 2000.

Sport

Scottish Prep Schools Cross Country Championships

Belhaven School again hosted this event in windswept John Muir Park in Dunbar last Sunday afternoon.

We fielded an U 12 and an U 10 team. The U 12s faced stiff opposition from several teams, most notably Belhaven, who cleaned up all the individual medals. Positions were as follows: 20th – Jamie Troup; 29th – Charlie Hunter; 30th – Ruairidh Mackay; 34th – Peter Ning and 42nd - James Carrie.

The U 10s were fairly evenly spaced in the upper half of the field, with strong performances by Callum Woodward in the bronze medal position and Henry Hunter not far behind him in 6th place. In a team event like this it is the determination of all the runners to continue fighting for position, even when they are no longer in the leading group, that can bring success. So it turned out on Sunday. With Archie Hodgson in 12th, Lorne Scott-Dempster in 13th, Christopher Jackson in 15th and Ryan Welsh in 25th place, the overall performance was good enough to bring back the U 10 trophy for the second year running. Well done to all competitors for this achievement!

Andrew Dickenson, Deputy Head

Cross Country Training

P6 New Personal Best Times: Andrew Devine 8.58, Charlie Hunter 7.57, Rory Mellis 8.31, Saul Melvin-Farr 7.09, Jack Obrien 8.18, Claude Scott 10.02, Jamie Troup 7.51, Arthur Withall 9.30, Angus Bolton 8.55, Alasdair gillies 8.53, Natalie Herbert 13.0, Blair Kinghorn 7.33, Yu Komiya 8.48, Rowan Milne 8.42, Peter Ning 7.49, Nicholas Peters 7.56, Alexander Tweedie 9.03, Abaan Zaidi 10.00, Mathilde Berkmiller 9.31, Robbie Brown 10.49, Sean Caiden 12.27, James Carrie 7.56, Joseph Dent 9.15, Alexander Fletcher 8.46, David Lian 10.13, Joshua Mateer 9.46, Campbell Neill 8.18.

P5 New Personal Best Times: James Fontana 14.11, Tim Guthrie 9.35, Christopher Jackson 8.51, Crispin Joseph 10.26, Innes Murray 8.15, Oscar Ramsay 8.50, Sewak Singh 16.40, Christopher Stillie 10.11, Ben Taylor 12.57, Callum Hunter 10.43, Matthew Comeau 11.00, Hamish Gordon 12.07, Sam Montague 12.35, Camille Berkmiller 8.25, Kamran Afshar 9.14, Kelvin Chen 8.18, Douglas Hardie 10.00, Christian Marks 10.39, Jack Paterson 10.57, Harry Simpson 8.11, Holly Willett 10.0, Johnie Day 10.55, Jessica Smith 8.52, Dylan Edwards 12.43, William Fontana 12.04, Edward Butler 9.37, William Harmar 14.18, Zaygham Hussain 13.35, Calum Lothian 8.55, Ben Ross 17.46, Kumayl Zaidi 12.06

Excellent effort by all! Well done and keep up the hard work!

Mark Enos, Head of Junior PE

U11 Hockey v Clifton Hall

A mixed team of P5/6 boys and girls played their first game against a competitive Clifton Hall side. There was some fine play on display with some excellent passing, dribbling and finishing in front of goal. Everyone showed a fighting spirit in defence and eagerness to play as a team. Clifton Hall won the first half and the Academy won the second half! (There were so many goals the ref lost count!) Well done, everyone! Keep up the hard work in training!

Team: Jessica Smith, Holly Willett, Meabh McGuigan, Abaan Zaidi, Natalie Herbert, Peter Ning, Peter Jacobs, Patrick Christie, Adair Wood, James Carrie.

Scotland 15 England 9

90 Junior School pupils and staff made the trip to Murrayfield to watch this fantastic game. The pupils enjoyed the Calcutta Cup match, singing, dancing and starting the Mexican Waves. Despite heavy rain, the pupils all enjoyed themselves and now cannot wait for the next game.

The P4s played their own 6 Nations competition during games with Italy winning by scoring 13 tries in 5 matches!

HOCKEY

Tuesday 4th March

1st Round U18 Plate. 1st XI v Penicuik HS: Won 6-4

At full time the score was 3-3. The highlight was a fine team goal from Jamie Francis. In the event of a draw the result is decided by penalty strokes (best of 5). Chris Duncan, Hector Macneal and Johnny Arthur all scored to secure a win and Quarter Final against Grove Academy or Boroughmuir HS.

Saturday 8th March

1st XI v Balerno High School: Won 4-0

Goals from Ali Colam, Johnny Arthur and two from Chris Duncan secured a very pleasing victory. This was, by far,  the sides best performance. Decision making was the key, players remained composed on the ball and played what they saw; simple, short  passes when they were on and long range passes when pressure was being applied by the opposition. Passing sequences were establised early in the game and as a result players worked even harder to find space confident they would receive the ball. Movement off the ball ensured more pass options, this in turn generated more width and variety in attack. It was a delight to watch.

U15 v Balerno: Lost 1-3

RUGBY

Bradford Tens

Competing against five very strong English schools and at a far higher standard than the boys encounter most weekends in Scotland, the under 12, under 13 and under 14 squads produced the most successful set of results achieved at the Bradford 10s for a number of years.

The under 12s came 2nd in their league, winning their first four games before losing their last by the only score of the game to QEGS Wakefield.

The under 13s also came 2nd in their league, winning four and losing by a single score to a RGS High Wycombe side of terrifying stature.

The under 14s came 3rd in their league but produced an outstanding final performance. Reduced to 10 barely fit players out of a squad of 15, they produced a brave rearguard action to beat an excellent QEGS Wakefield team.

All the boys were hosted and it was pleasing to hear the number of compliments received from their hosts on the boys' behaviour.