Reviews

Art trip to Washington and New York

During the first week of the Easter holidays, 35 pupils and 5 staff went to Washington and New York to visit some of the finest art galleries and to see some of the best known pieces of art in the flesh, whilst also discovering countless new artists for further exploration. Armed with personalised sketchbooks and pencil cases the group demonstrated considerable stamina over the week and came back with books full and minds overloaded. We visited the Hirshorn, the Phillips collection, the enormous National Gallery of Art in Washington, as well as walking from the Capitol to the Lincoln memorial. We also had evening trips to see ‘Stunning’ at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre and ‘Paranoid Park’ at the E street cinema. In New York we went to MOMA, PS1, Guggenheim, The Metropolitan, The Frick and the smaller Chelsea galleries as well as drawing in Central Station, going up the Empire State Building, Central Park, China town/Little Italy, Ground Zero, Battery Park, Times Square, the Flatiron building, and even squeezed in ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’. This was a fantastic group to take away who were always positive however tired their feet may have got, or how lost we were on the subway!

A fuller account of this trip will appear in the Chronicle.

DL Prosser

Music Marathon

Saturday April 12th: 3-9pm in the Hall

Everyone going on the orchestral tour to Italy in October (apart from those engaged by the Duke of Edinburgh) – with some generous support from others -  took part in this most enjoyable informal and varied event, aimed at raising funds for the tour and for the Practice-a-thon scheme organised by the Malcolm Sargent Children Cancer charity. Well done to all – from Alastair Benn, who got us started with 40 minutes of music on three instruments (with excellent family assistance), to a very promising set from Sam and his Magical Minions near the end. Sponsorship sheets and money should be handed in to Dr Coad as soon as possible.

Musical Congratulations

Associated Board Practical Music Exam Results – March 2008

PASS WITH DISTINCTION

Matthew Zegleman (alto sax 6), Kieran Baker (piano 4), Christopher Thomson (violin 4), Angus Rive (bassoon 4), Michael Scott (violin 3), Stefan Cunningham (desc rec 3), Douglas Rogers (flute 3), Callum Woodward (desc rec 2), Cameron Devine (desc rec 2), Andrew Boyd (desc rec 2), Calum Reynolds (desc rec 1), John Sellar (desc rec 1)

PASS WITH MERIT

Ruaridh Maxwell (violin 8), Alice Loudon (piano 8), Thomas Harmar (trombone 5), Cameron Newell (violin 5), Frederick Thomson (trombone 5), Saul Melvin Farr (treb rec 3), Sam Hooke (treb rec 3), Ivan Armstrong (clarinet 3), Finlay Clark (piano 2), Peter Jacobs (treb rec 2)

PASS

Blair Bowman (violin 8), Robert Gray (violin 7), David Bor (clarinet 5), Grant Cropley (violin 4), Gavin Adams (violin 3), Alasdair Gillies (trumpet 3), Andrew Devine (treb rec 2), Hamish Graham (trombone 2), Ben Taylor (desc rec 1)

Rock School

Congratulations to the following on their electric guitar exam results:

Robert Allison (grade 6 merit), Rachael Mellor (grade 5 merit), Calum Sutherland (grade 4 distinction), Gavin Duncan (grade 1 distinction)

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra

Congratulations to Jack Davis, Julian Scott and Calum Robertson (EA – 2007) on leading their sections so impressively in the three excellent Edinburgh Youth Orchestra concerts given during the holidays in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen; and to Ruaridh Maxwell and Aonghas Maxwell for representing the school in two National Youth Orchestra of Scotland courses.

What's On?

St Giles at Six

Sunday 20th April   6.00pm   St Giles Cathedral

Concert given by Chamber Choir and instrumental ensembles. Admission free – all welcome. Rehearsals begin at 3.40 – all involved should have had a letter.

Lunchtime Concert

Tuesday 22nd April  12.45pm  Robertson Room

Given by A-level music candidates.

Peter Gregson - “Spem”

Friday 25th April   7.30pm  Greyfriars Kirk

Peter Gregson (1991-2004) will be premiering his solo debut CD “Spem”.

The CD revolves around Thomas Tallis’s epic 40 part motet, Spem in Alium, and is accompanied by five new commissioned works for solo cello.

Tickets available from The Queen’s Hall box office, telephone no 0131 668 2019 and also from Peter’s website, www.petergregson.co.uk.

The CD will be launched on April 25th and will be available for sale at the concert and for digital download through iTunes.

Charity Fashion Show

Friday 2nd May   7.00pm   Main Hall, Henderson Row

There will be an Edinburgh Academy Charity Fashion Show organised by senior pupils on Friday 2nd May in the Main Hall.

A fantastic champagne and canapes reception will be held before the show.

Tickets at £20 can be collected from the School Office or by contacting Laura Howie at lhowie@edinburghacademy.org.uk.

The show is in aid of the World Land Trust which works to preserve some of the world’s most biologically important and threatened lands.

Royal Society of Edinburgh Lecture - The European Union: Does it have a Future?

Thursday 8 May 2008 at 5.30pm at RSE

Sir John D K Grant, KCMG (Academical) Former UK Permanent Representative (Ambassador) to the EU. Open to all and free to attend - tickets required.

The Edinburgh Academy Ball

Friday 7th November   The Assembly Rooms, George Street

This is a biannual event open to all parents and staff from both the Junior and Senior School and it would be great to see lots of new faces coming along. The Ball begins with a Champagne Reception followed by 3-course meal and then dancing, both ceilidh and rock and roll! There is also fundraising fun during the evening as well as a casino. This is a very popular event and sells out quickly, so to avoid disappointment please talk to friends and organise a table of 10. To reserve a table contact Sally Spilsbury on sallyspils@btinternet.com or call her on (0131) 552 4942. Tickets cost £70 per person and a non-refundable deposit of £100 is required per table. All profits go to projects within the school. I do hope many of you will come along.

Notices

Sports Team Photos

These will be issued to the pupils this week. They are produced by Mr Shipley and Mr Allingham and act as a fund raiser for future sports tours. The cost will be £7 per photo and is charged to parents’ accounts.

Blackwell Bookshop News

Well, this has been a very busy first week back!  I hope you all had a refreshing Easter break. Thank you to staff and students for being patient during our small refit - we should be back to normal soon.

We still have plenty of Study Guides and Past Papers in stock as well as other "revision stationery" - highlighters, post-it page markers and pens etc.

New in - "The Ugly Files" - Arch Lever files at the bargain price of 99p each - they truly are ugly though!

We have made a slight change to our opening hours:

Monday - Thursday  9.00am - 3.00pm. Lunch break 12.15 - 12.45pm

Friday  9.00am - 12.00 noon. The half day is to allow for Academy administration and Blackwell training.

Pamela Thomson, Blackwell Bookshop Manager

Sport

P5/6 Cross Country Championship 2008

On a marvellous day for running, 96 boys and girls from P5 and P6 contested within a differentiated race for individual medals and the Division Cup won by Kinross last year. All runners made a choice to compete in the long (3.7km) or short (2km) course i.e. 1 or 2 laps of Inverleith Park. All competitors ran brilliantly, showing good technique and intelligent pacing to provide the spectators with exciting finishes to all the races. The support of all the runners was excellent. A magnificent achievement by all! Well done, everyone! Thank you to all who participated and who supported this hugely enjoyable and successful event.

Results:

P5 Boys (long course) 1st Christopher Jackson (6th Overall) 18.16min 2nd Camille Berkmiller (7th) 18.19 3rd Kelvin Chen (9th) 18.38 4th Oscar Ramsay (12th) 19.26 5th Harry Simpson (13th) 19.33 6th Angus Macpherson (19th) 20.21

P5 Girls (short course)1st Jessica Smyth 12.43 2nd Holly Willett 12.46 3rd Meabh McGuigan 18.57

P5 Boys (short course) 1st David Morrison 10.29

P6 Boys (long course) 1st Saul Melvin-Farr (1st Overall) 17.46 2nd Peter Ning 17.50 3rd Jamie Troup 17.54 4th Blair Kinghorn 17.57 5th Finlay Gilmour 18.03 6th Campbell Neill 18.37 (8th Overall)

P6 Girls (short course) 1st Mathilde Berkmiller 11.03 Abaan Zaidi 12.28 3rd Natalie Herbert 18.37

P6 Boys (short course) 1st Rory Mellis 10.39

Special Achievement Award: James Fontana

Division Cup: 1st Cockburn 2nd Dundas 3rd Kinross 4th Carmichael

GOLF

Monday 7th April saw a small group of boys contest the Academy’s golf competitions at the Braid Hills courses.  The weather, as usual, was poor and all who competed should be congratulated for simply getting around, let alone producing some fine golf.  The Addis Cup (4ths–7ths) was very hotly contested with both Nick Peoples and Bertie Allison shooting fine scores of 77 on the Braid No 1 course.  Following usual amateur golf rules, Bertie won by virtue of covering the last nine holes in fewer shots than Nick. 

In the Bryce Trophy (Geits–3rds) Robbie Orr won for the third year in a row.  His round of 68 was a mere 6 over par on the tricky Braid Princes course.  Alastair Benn (77) and Tom Gray (78) were unlucky to come up against such a fine golfer and theirs would have been winning scores in recent years.  Tom will at least have a another chance of winning at this age group next year.

N Armstrong

ATHLETICS

·   Brodie Ballantine has been selected as Captain and Tom Brown as Vice-captain.

·   Training took place this Saturday morning although the conditions were not favourable!

·   Next Saturday 19th the Trials for the team take place starting at 9.30am. All athletes who would like to come down and be recorded for times and distances are most welcome. The programme of events is on the athletics notice board.

·   This year see the 150th year of the Academy Games. There will be a few special events, and we hope to start the day off with a champagne breakfast for interested parents and Academicals.

RUGBY

The Under 15 rugby team led by Scott Heaney have had an excellent season, reaching the semi-final of the Bell Laurie U15 cup.  On Wednesday night they played a short match against the BATS U15 as a curtain raiser to the Edinburgh Accies v the Barbarians. For the record they won 3 tries to 1. The school pipe band then performed splendidly before the main match kicked off,  which included recent leavers Danny Teague (man of the match), Nathan Pike, Chris Dickie, Jamie Henderson and Paul Loudon all playing for the Accies; and Stuart Moffat and Tam McVie playing for the Barbarians.

EA Summer Rugby Course 2008

Open to all EA pupils from the current P3 to the current 5ths.

Monday 11th August to Friday 15th August 10am to 3pm each day.

Cost £90 per person. Free gift included. Cheques to be payable to Mike Allingham.

To book a place contact Mike Allingham on 624 4959 or mjga@edinburghacademy.org.uk

Rugby for All – in the North Edinburgh Community

This Wednesday, 16 April at Raeburn Place, BATs U18 will play Merchiston Castle School – who are the outstanding school side in Scotland this season, winning the Bell Lawrie Scottish Schools Cup. This game marks the end of our third season and we would like to see as many Accie players and supporters there as possible to help us celebrate and to support some of Accies' future players.

The BATs team will be made up from the wide North Edinburgh community and will be the best side we can get on the night from young people from Broughton High School, Trinity Academy, Drummond and Craigroyston Community High School, Fettes, Edinburgh Academy and from the regular BATs Under 18s. We hope to include those U18s and U17s who are part of this season’s Scotland age group squads/teams.

Last year around 14 players who had been involved with BATs in one way or another entered senior rugby, this year we have a very young U18 side, so only expect a hand full to enter senior rugby – it is our aim to get around 14 each year in the future.

We are using the game against Merchiston to raise funds for BATs and will have an admission charge of £5 for adult (over 18). Please put come down to Raeburn Place and help us to secure our future by attending the game with your friends. Remember last year’s game against Bell Baxter was a cracker!!

I look forward to seeing you at Raeburn Place on Wednesday - the bar opens at 5.30 – the kick off at 6.30.