Bellshill Academy Prize giving and Celebrating Success Award Ceremony

On Wednesday 14^th June and Thursday 15^th June, Bellshill Academy held their annual ‘Celebrating Success’ award ceremonies to celebrate the achievements of pupils from S1-S6. Mrs Boyd, the Convenor or Education and Assistant Chief Executive, awarded S5 pupil Amy Bennett with the Dux medal, which was a wonderful achievement .The events were well-attended by staff, pupils, parents and carers, who were all entertained with high-quality entertainment from the Music Department. Many thanks to all staff who took part in helping to organise these successful and enjoyable events.

Bellshill Academy Tesco Voting

The eco group made a bid last term for the Tesco Bags of Help scheme to raise money towards the planned sensory garden within the school.  Our Tesco bid has been successful and we have been shortlisted against two other local projects. Tesco customers will have the opportunity to vote for our project for the chance to win £4,000 if we come in first place (£2,000 for 2nd and £1,000 for 3rd).  If we raise awareness of the voting with all our pupils, parents, staff and the local community then we stand a very good chance of winning the first prize. The voting is open in the Bellshill store from the 1st July – 31st August 2017.  As we will be on holiday for most of the voting period I appreciate most of you will not be able to vote on a daily basis – however if for whatever reason you do find yourself shopping in the Tesco Bellshill store then can you please ask the checkout operator for a blue voting disk. All you then need to do is drop it in the Bellshill Academy voting tube on your way out. Continue reading →

Duke of Edinburgh Silver Expedition

 The Bellshill Academy Silver Duke of Edinburgh group successfully completed their final expedition in Aberfoyle this week. The group battled heavy, persistent rain for most of their expedition and supported each other to stay motivated and to keep going. The group displayed real resilience and determination throughout their challenging three days and not once did any member of the team give up. Mr Snelling and Yvonne MacBean could not be prouder of all the pupils. The pupils included in this year’s team are Fraser Foye, David Galloway, Ryan McLean, Robert Craig, Chloe Watson and Rachel Muir. They have all achieved their Silver DofE Award and should be very proud of their achievements.  Kimberly Crawford and Jack Ritchie could unfortunately not attend the final expedition and will hopefully be able to complete their award in the near future with another group – they were both missed by their teams mates during this week’s expedition.

Bellshill Academy Sports Competition

On Friday 2^nd June, the PE department at Bellshill Academy held their annual Sport’s Day where pupils could win points for their houses.  The Sport’s Day was made up of two sessions. The morning session was the Individual House Championships for S1-S3, where pupils were able to compete in various athletic challenges. The afternoon session involved two main team events, namely football and tug-of-war, which were well-attended by pupils in S1-S3.  The day was a great success that pupils enjoyed greatly. Well done Mrs. Anderson and the PE department for organising the event. Continue reading →

Eco-group Update

Bellshill Academy is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Local School Nature Grant. Our pupils will be benefitting from the delivery of outdoor wooden seating which will be used by staff and pupils from across the school. In addition staff will receive training to help children learn outdoors and make the most of learning opportunities with the school grounds. Pupils played an important role in applying for the grant and selected the equipment that they felt would benefit their peers. The project is run by Learning through Landscapes and funded by Postcode Local Trust, which receives funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery. #LocalSchoolNatureGrant

North Lanarkshire’s Excellence Award Ceremony

Yvonne MacBean, alongside various members of staff and S6 pupils worked this session to support the Sporting Memories group. As a result of their hard work, Yvonne was presented with an Excellence & Equity Award at last night’s North Lanarkshire Excellence Awards Ceremony. Sporting Memories is a national organisation which works with older men to tackle dementia, depression and loneliness through promoting physical activity and sporting memories. S6 students have hosted numerous coffee mornings in the school for the men. During the coffee mornings the young people have developed their organisational skills by setting up intergenerational quizzes, devising challenges and different physical activities and have carried out consultations and questionnaires with the men on what their best sporting memories are from their youth.  This year the students, supported by Yvonne, have worked with the men to develop an App called ‘World Walking’. The app will be used to promote physical activity in the older men and the young people. Pupils used their consultation with the men to develop a walking map of North Lanarkshire incorporating famous local sports personalities and land marks that the men had identified along with the young people. The walk will be launched onto the App in early June and will be available to download from the App Store and Google Play Store.  The Scottish Government have been so impressed with this initiative that they have organised a launch of the app here at the school in June. Continue reading →

NLC Dance Championship 2017

Bellshill Academy had a triumphant success at this year’s NLC Dance Championships held at Greenfaulds High School, where we secured a total of three gold medals. The senior dancers, Luci Mitchell, Robyn Gowrie, Emma Rae, Lauren Gilmour, Ewan Ferguson, Sophie Kerr and Alana Hillcoat, won their 3^rd consecutive gold medal with a dance dedicated to raising the awareness of breast cancer. The gold medal success did not stop there as our duo of Sophie Reid from S4 and Sophie Kerr, S3, gained their 2^nd consecutive gold from this competition. Robyn Gowrie and Luci Jones both in S5 also won a gold medal with a very entertaining jazz duet. Bellshill Academy placed 2^nd in the overall awards. This was a fantastic achievement as the competition was attended by many schools across the authority. We are very proud of all our dancers who performed and hope to continue our success in the future. Well done to all staff and pupils involved for their excellent achievements.

Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition

Bellshill Academy’s Duke of Edinburgh bronze group recently completed their expedition, assisted by Mr Snelling and Yvonne MacBean.The group went to Strathyre for their expedition. They started at Ben Ledi car park and walked into the centre of Strathyre along Loch Lubnaig. They then spent the night camping at Immervoulin campsite, roasting marshmallows over the fires. They even brought their books and did studying for their SQA exams, showing their dedication. The group then walked through the Strathyre forest to Balquhidder. They navigated their way through the forest using a compass and OS map. The group will complete their final expedition at the start of June. The group showed excellent team working skills and maturity during the expedition and a good time was had by all.

Bellshill Barbarians

The Bellshill Barbarians led by Mr Clark and Mr Davidson managed to win the tier 3 competition at last week’s Dalziel School’s Rugby Competition. The team made up of pupils from Bellshill Academy, Coltness High School, Clyde Valley High School and Calderhead High School played emphatically at their first competition. The team that trained together at the start of the academic year sadly broke up after Christmas due to a lack of funding but on Friday the boys managed to overcome this set- back and breezed past Chryston High and Stonelaw High School to victory. Well done to all pupils and staff involved for their hard work and achievements.
Continue reading →

Bingo Night

On Friday 24^th March, Ms Boyd of the Music department organised a Bingo Night in aid of Cancer Research.  At the event pupils from the Academy performed musical pieces to entertain the audience. Overall the event raised almost £300 for Cancer Research. Well done to all pupils and staff involved for making the night a success.

Comic Relief – Red Nose Day 2017

On Friday 24^th March Bellshill Academy pupils raised the phenomenal amount of £957 for Comic Relief. Pupils made and sold cakes, ran a sweepstake, organised ‘Guess the amount of sweets in the jar’ and had a full school dress down day. In addition to this, senior pupils hosted a charity coffee morning for the local sporting Memories Network Group. This is a support group for older men to encourage physical activity and reminiscence. Pupils organised, tea, coffee and cakes, a quiz, bowling, indoor curling and a balloon challenge for the men. Well done to all the pupils involved for volunteering their time and raising such a fantastic sum of money.

Duke of Edinburgh Silver Expedition

The Bellshill group joined up with the Cumbernauld community group and spent three days walking and two nights camping in the area. The group faced a very challenging first day and despite a few injuries and major blisters – every young person successfully completed the expedition and showed great determination when things got difficult. They were a real credit to Bellshill Academy and the Cumbernauld Community. Mr Snelling and Yvonne MacBean, who led the expedition, stated that they could not be prouder of the group for their efforts. They will complete their final expedition in early June. The Bellshill pupils involved were: Fraser Foye, Ryan McLean, David Galloway, Jack Ritchie, Robert Craig, Chloe Watson, Rachel Muir and Kimberley Crawford. Well done to all pupils and staff involved. Continue reading →