Auchenharvie Academy : Rector's reports 1972-74
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 4:53 pm
Here are the Rector's reports for the first few years of Auchenharvie Academy, starting with 1972.
AUCHENHARVIE ACADEMY
The prizes at Auchenharvie Academy were presented by Mrs Q Wilson, whose husband, the Chief Constable of Ayrshire, addressed the pupils.
A lectern was presented to the school by Mr J S Johnston, chairman of the Parents' Association; chairman at the ceremony was Bailie J Forde, and votes of thanks were proposed by Provost G H Barnett, Saltcoats.
" We must remember that the type of comprehensive education we are endeavouring to provide is almost as new as the school building we now occupy, " said the Rector, Mr Charles Wilson, in his report.
" Indeed, during the session we have had as many visitors to the school concerned with different aspects of our interpretation of the comprehensive school as we have had visitors coming to examine and pronounce on the buildings and equipment.
" The success of any school revolves around a dedicated and hardworking staff, and while it may seem churlish to mention staffing problems in a new school so wonderfully equipped and provided for, the fact remains that this has been a heavy and difficult year. A closer liaison with our primary feeder schools is essential if we are to carry out the objectives of comprehensive education, and to this end we have had a discussion period with each of our primary staffs, and once a term meetings of headmasters, organisers and of the departments concerned and the heads of departments in our own school. Availability of staff is the crucial factor in the further development of this highly necessary scheme, and I am anxious as soon as possible to extend the scheme to cover music and drama.
" However, we are delighted at the way in which the 18 new members of staff, nine of them probationers, have become part of an efficient team. Comprehensive education, to my mind, makes even greater demands on staff, and the community owes a great deal to these hardworking ladies and gentlemen.
" The quality of a school depends largely on the boys and girls who pass through its doors, " continued Mr Wilson, and academic performance has been and will continue to be one of the basic objectives. The first two years of the school give all pupils the opportunity to find out the talents they possess, and to realise that these talents must be used, for they are not qualities which can be kept locked up and released at some time in the future, The school has accordingly continued during the session in developing mixed ability techniques in all subjects throughout the first year, and apart from some setting in mathematics and French, throughout the second year.
"For the first time this session we have abandoned the traditional system of term examinations throughout the first two years, and we are now operating a policy of continuous assessment of each pupil, which at its very simplest means a series of diagnostic tests, highlighting the testing of different skills in each subject, and producing for the staff, for the pupils and for the parents a much more accurate assessment of the pupils' potential in each subject. We must continue with the work of educating both pupils and parents in these exceedingly important two years of the common course towards a recognition that success in the first two years paves the way for meaningful effort in the third and fourth years.
" This is the last session in which the third year will be divided into certificate and leavers courses, for which the school leaving age going up to 16 on the 1st of September of this year, courses in the new session for the present second year - i.e. the new third year - will undergo radical changes. Much good work has been done in third and fourth years during the session, and many of the pupils will perform creditably in the academic field. Nevertheless there are still too many of our pupils, both in third and fourth year, who take far too lng to come to terms with the realities of life.
" To those who have academic talents, I can only repeat a point already made - the talents must be used.I cannot believe that such pupils have not begun to face the harsh realities of the life of work - a life which in the present economic climate means fierce competition for jobs. The better qualifications a pupil has, the greater the range of jobs available. To those pupils whose talents are not academic I would make two points - first, many jobs available in the outside world do not require academic qualifications, and second the school is concerned with far more than the development of academic talents.
" Inevitably, in the comprehensive school serving a society which become more and more complex, guidance is playing an ever increasing part. Guidance is a concern for the total life the pupil is now living and will live in the future, and the school is now geared to promote this very vital educational need.One area of guidance work is vocational, and this year the second year classes had an intensive build up to the choice of courses for their third year, carrying out a careers programme including self-assessment, individual interviews, a careers convention, and meetings of myself and staff with their parents. We continued to make use of the Careers Advisory Service in advising senior pupils of career possibilities.
" Guidance, however, is far more than vocational, and we have launched regular discussion groups during the first 20 minutes of certain mornings in the week. These discussions cover personal, social and moral issues, and they will be developed even more next session. All the staff are involved with guidance groups but the chief responsibility of organising this area of the curriculum rests with the housemasters, or - to give them their new title - principal teachers of guidance.
" These four members of staff have a considerable task in hand for they provide the direct link between the school and the home. The old days of the parent contacting the headmaster about his son/daughter are rapidly disappearing, for in the large comprehensive school the principal teacher of guidance will know far more about each individual pupil than will the headmaster. "
After referring to visits to the school by parents and others, Mr Wilson gave a comprehensive review of the leisure activities undertaken, including sports, and paid tribute to the teachers for their work in this connection. He also thanked the janitor and cleaning staff for their assistance.
Mr Wilson continued :
"Vandalism is not unknown in the school - it would be a strange community if it were - but in this first year we have kept it to a minimum. The long-term answer is a campaign of self-discipline and a recognition by the large majority of pupils - some 98% of the population - that the vandal is a threat to their freedom and liberty. Yes, vandalism is with us , but thanks to the efforts of staff, teaching and non-teaching alike, and the honesty and respect for property shown by the vast majority of pupils, we are containing this cancer in our society.
" It is right and proper that I move on from vandalism to a much more productive element in our school community - the school as a community concerned about and caring for those less fortunate, whether they be in our local area or the wider world. We have in the school a Pupils' Charities Committee, responsible first of all for setting a financial target for Pupils' Charities Collections each session. Their target for the ordinary Penny-a-Week collection was set last August at £300, and I am delighted to report that the final figure was £303. Thanks here are due not only to those pupils who have contributed throughout the session but also to third year leavers boys who have been responsible for organising weekly collections as part of a mathematics project, and I know that their arithmetic, at least, has improved considerably. Special collections taken during the session have added another £50, and last Christmas we undertook the collection of tinned goods etc,and their distribution in the form of 150 parcels for the aged of Saltcoats and Stevenston. "
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 7th July 1972
Susan
AUCHENHARVIE ACADEMY
The prizes at Auchenharvie Academy were presented by Mrs Q Wilson, whose husband, the Chief Constable of Ayrshire, addressed the pupils.
A lectern was presented to the school by Mr J S Johnston, chairman of the Parents' Association; chairman at the ceremony was Bailie J Forde, and votes of thanks were proposed by Provost G H Barnett, Saltcoats.
" We must remember that the type of comprehensive education we are endeavouring to provide is almost as new as the school building we now occupy, " said the Rector, Mr Charles Wilson, in his report.
" Indeed, during the session we have had as many visitors to the school concerned with different aspects of our interpretation of the comprehensive school as we have had visitors coming to examine and pronounce on the buildings and equipment.
" The success of any school revolves around a dedicated and hardworking staff, and while it may seem churlish to mention staffing problems in a new school so wonderfully equipped and provided for, the fact remains that this has been a heavy and difficult year. A closer liaison with our primary feeder schools is essential if we are to carry out the objectives of comprehensive education, and to this end we have had a discussion period with each of our primary staffs, and once a term meetings of headmasters, organisers and of the departments concerned and the heads of departments in our own school. Availability of staff is the crucial factor in the further development of this highly necessary scheme, and I am anxious as soon as possible to extend the scheme to cover music and drama.
" However, we are delighted at the way in which the 18 new members of staff, nine of them probationers, have become part of an efficient team. Comprehensive education, to my mind, makes even greater demands on staff, and the community owes a great deal to these hardworking ladies and gentlemen.
" The quality of a school depends largely on the boys and girls who pass through its doors, " continued Mr Wilson, and academic performance has been and will continue to be one of the basic objectives. The first two years of the school give all pupils the opportunity to find out the talents they possess, and to realise that these talents must be used, for they are not qualities which can be kept locked up and released at some time in the future, The school has accordingly continued during the session in developing mixed ability techniques in all subjects throughout the first year, and apart from some setting in mathematics and French, throughout the second year.
"For the first time this session we have abandoned the traditional system of term examinations throughout the first two years, and we are now operating a policy of continuous assessment of each pupil, which at its very simplest means a series of diagnostic tests, highlighting the testing of different skills in each subject, and producing for the staff, for the pupils and for the parents a much more accurate assessment of the pupils' potential in each subject. We must continue with the work of educating both pupils and parents in these exceedingly important two years of the common course towards a recognition that success in the first two years paves the way for meaningful effort in the third and fourth years.
" This is the last session in which the third year will be divided into certificate and leavers courses, for which the school leaving age going up to 16 on the 1st of September of this year, courses in the new session for the present second year - i.e. the new third year - will undergo radical changes. Much good work has been done in third and fourth years during the session, and many of the pupils will perform creditably in the academic field. Nevertheless there are still too many of our pupils, both in third and fourth year, who take far too lng to come to terms with the realities of life.
" To those who have academic talents, I can only repeat a point already made - the talents must be used.I cannot believe that such pupils have not begun to face the harsh realities of the life of work - a life which in the present economic climate means fierce competition for jobs. The better qualifications a pupil has, the greater the range of jobs available. To those pupils whose talents are not academic I would make two points - first, many jobs available in the outside world do not require academic qualifications, and second the school is concerned with far more than the development of academic talents.
" Inevitably, in the comprehensive school serving a society which become more and more complex, guidance is playing an ever increasing part. Guidance is a concern for the total life the pupil is now living and will live in the future, and the school is now geared to promote this very vital educational need.One area of guidance work is vocational, and this year the second year classes had an intensive build up to the choice of courses for their third year, carrying out a careers programme including self-assessment, individual interviews, a careers convention, and meetings of myself and staff with their parents. We continued to make use of the Careers Advisory Service in advising senior pupils of career possibilities.
" Guidance, however, is far more than vocational, and we have launched regular discussion groups during the first 20 minutes of certain mornings in the week. These discussions cover personal, social and moral issues, and they will be developed even more next session. All the staff are involved with guidance groups but the chief responsibility of organising this area of the curriculum rests with the housemasters, or - to give them their new title - principal teachers of guidance.
" These four members of staff have a considerable task in hand for they provide the direct link between the school and the home. The old days of the parent contacting the headmaster about his son/daughter are rapidly disappearing, for in the large comprehensive school the principal teacher of guidance will know far more about each individual pupil than will the headmaster. "
After referring to visits to the school by parents and others, Mr Wilson gave a comprehensive review of the leisure activities undertaken, including sports, and paid tribute to the teachers for their work in this connection. He also thanked the janitor and cleaning staff for their assistance.
Mr Wilson continued :
"Vandalism is not unknown in the school - it would be a strange community if it were - but in this first year we have kept it to a minimum. The long-term answer is a campaign of self-discipline and a recognition by the large majority of pupils - some 98% of the population - that the vandal is a threat to their freedom and liberty. Yes, vandalism is with us , but thanks to the efforts of staff, teaching and non-teaching alike, and the honesty and respect for property shown by the vast majority of pupils, we are containing this cancer in our society.
" It is right and proper that I move on from vandalism to a much more productive element in our school community - the school as a community concerned about and caring for those less fortunate, whether they be in our local area or the wider world. We have in the school a Pupils' Charities Committee, responsible first of all for setting a financial target for Pupils' Charities Collections each session. Their target for the ordinary Penny-a-Week collection was set last August at £300, and I am delighted to report that the final figure was £303. Thanks here are due not only to those pupils who have contributed throughout the session but also to third year leavers boys who have been responsible for organising weekly collections as part of a mathematics project, and I know that their arithmetic, at least, has improved considerably. Special collections taken during the session have added another £50, and last Christmas we undertook the collection of tinned goods etc,and their distribution in the form of 150 parcels for the aged of Saltcoats and Stevenston. "
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 7th July 1972
Susan