GREENOCK ACADEMY

SCOPE: YOUNG ENTERPRISE SCOTLAND 2008

Young Enterprise Scotland provides a programme for S5/6 pupils to set up their own business for a school year and learn the process of business from setting up the company to liquidating it.

'Scope' is the 'YES' team for Greenock Academy this year, and we provide a service where we take the hassle out of selling on-line and help the public to make money from unwanted objects sitting around their homes.  We take care of the whole process from taking publicity shots to dispatching the items to the vendors.

The year has included a Trade Fair at Braehead shopping Centre where our Marketing Director won the 'Patter Merchant'  award for good salesmanship.  We have completed a number of projects to raise funds including selling merchandise when the QE2 visited Greenock and setting up a tuck shop for the S1/2 Halloween Disco.

We will sit the Young Enterprise Scotland examination at the Strathclyde Business School which will give us the opportunity to gain a qualification from our year in business.  The year will end with a competition at Paisley University which will involve writing a report; being interviewed by the judges and delivering a presentation about our experiences.

Generous S5 pupils have donated some of their study trip cash to the Lupus UK charity.  The fifth year pupils have been hard at work raising funds for an educational excursion to New York in February 2009.  The money was raised after a successful stint of bag packing  in a local store, just before Christmas. Everyone has been impressed by their willingness and lack of hesitation in donating some of their money to a charity.

Skye Loneragan is a playwright who works with the students in Greenock Academy and encourages them to make theatre or use the written or spoken word in a range of shapes and forms. 

Inverclyde Arts Education team has engaged Visible Fictions in a residency  to enable the playwright to develop her own work and practice, while imparting her skills and knowledge to the young people of Greenock Academy.

Award winning Visible Fictions is recognised across the UK and internationally  for creating exciting and entertaining and engaging theatre of the highest quality.  They also have the distinction of being the first Scottish company to perform on Broadway.

Amazingly artistic menus were produced for the African Cafe prepared for the S2 Africa Week.  The menus were very professionally produced and would have brightened up any restaurant.  The range of approaches to the task was very impressive and it was interesting to see how differently each pupil responded to the design brief.  The menus now form part of a colourful display in the Careers Library.

S4 Spanish pupils had a highly enjoyable evening at "La Tosca" in the West End of Glasgow.  This is a well established restaurant which takes a pride in sharing Spanish food.  The pupils enjoyed the meal and learned a good deal about Spanish customs.  It has given a lot of the pupils a new taste for their Spanish studies.

S2 pupils, working for the Modern Languages Cafeteria section, created a sensational gastronomic experience for the Parents' Open Evening in September 07.  Pupils and French department staff, sporting striped shirts and berets, presented a glittering array of tasteful french cuisine which was gratefully gourmandised by the parents.  A convivial french atmosphere was enhanced by candles and the strains of Edith Piaf songs. 

Pupils planned the menu and helped serve the food and gained a lot of practical organisational experience as well as an insight into the culture of France.

As part of the Standard Grade Geography course, the pupils learn about the inequalities of Global Trade.  The Trade game is an excellent example of how the Global Trades work.

Each group is engaged in the simple task of making paper shapes of differing value to start their stake in the bank.

Each group represents different parts of the world and, as you would expect, the larger, well resourced groups made plenty of money.  However, when it was pointed out that one group had little or no money, they were made aware that that was just tough: that was how Global Trading worked.  This struck them more forcefully than direct teaching could have done.

S2b Lifeskills pupils jumped at the chance to send 66 backpacks filled with useful articles to Malawi.  They worked on  a project researching the most useful things to fill the backpacks with and also learned about the school experiences of the pupils in Malawi.  They worked on powerpoint presentations and made posters advertising the charity.

Miss Downie was very impressed with the generosity of the pupils and the thoughtful way they prepared the backpacks for the Malawian children.

Many of the Greenock Academy pupils are involved in the highly successful Inverclyde strings orchestra, concert bands and junior and senior choirs.  They are also enthusiastic participants in a jazz band, samba band and brass band.  One group of pupils, showing great enterprising initiative, have set up a ceilidh band which has played for the junior school dances and some local dinner dances.  They are available for hire at a competitive rate and are fantastic!

All  departments engaged in a cross-curricular  project "Africa Week" in October 2007 which was designed to promote pupil awareness of Global Citizenship and to encourage them to see the links between a range of subjects and how well they compliment each other.

All departments offered a series of learning experiences around the theme of the beauty and diversity of  African culture.  Some departments worked collaboratively.  The Home Economics Department ran a cafe providing African food whilst the ICT Department designed and produced posters and menus for the cafe.  The English Department investigated the impact of Water Aid; Mathematics  made graphs of statistics relating to African Issues; the Humanities Department examined influential African individuals and made power point  presentations of their findings; the Art Department designed and produced masks and bead bags;the Science Department prepared powerpoint displays of African animals whilst the Music Department provided an exhilarating musical experience  with African drums.

The work was showcased in the Assembly Hall on the Friday which resulted in a beautifully colourful and informative celebration of African culture.

Learning athletic coaching skills, is the challenge of three fifth year pupils at Greenock Academy . Susanna Spence, Nuala Mooney and Amanda Kelly have all qualified through the Children in Athletics training initiative.

Now, as part of a scheme involving 8-14 year olds throughout Inverclyde, they are passing on their skills in Athletics and Hockey to other youngsters. Nuala and Amanda help coach pupils in Port Glasgow and Susanna takes part in three training sessions each week at Greenock High and Ravenscraig. All three are aiming to pass the level 1 coaching certificate this year

Enterprising sixth year pupils at Greenock Academy have set up a successful service company, Zephyr as part of the Young Enterprise scheme. Photographing partygoers at the Halloween Disco was their first project when they shot over 150 digital photos and printed them off on the night.

They took part in the Christmas Trade Fair at Braehead, selling hand decorated candles and gifts. The judges were very impressed by their stall and their level of customer care. Later that week they sold the first goods in school.

Commenting on the business, Zephyr's company secretary, Emma Boffey, said: "We enjoyed the Trade Fair and got lots of ideas for our next project. We are all much more confident about our ability to make this a success."

Greenock Academy is one Inverclyde school embracing the Eco School programme and promoting environmental concern as part of its curriculum.

A team of seven S6 pupils, six pupils in years 1 to 4 plus two members of staff, are the driving force behind a scheme collecting recyclable paper from classrooms. And they are ably assisted by 24 junior pupils. The team have already achieved a bronze award and are in the process of applying for silver with their sights set on the prestigious Green Flag status.

All schools undoubtedly use an enormous amount of paper. Greenock Academy is no different, accounting for about 7,000 reams of plain paper every year. Now it recycles more than 20 bags of paper every week and the scheme is growing all the time. The team also recycle old ink cartridges and, in the future, hope to add old phones, cans and bottles to the list.

Going one step further, they have taken on responsibility for improving the litter situation in the school's surrounding area. They will be writing to Inverclyde Council to request more bins in the area and then organise an awareness campaign about the problems caused by litter.

While demonstrating great social responsibility and citizenship, this is one team honing their organisational and communication skills.

Staff at Greenock Academy were over the moon when a dull winter morning was brightened by a late breakfast of bacon or toasted cheese rolls and hot drinks. This was part of an S3 initiative, where 11 pupils decided to organise a charity coffee morning for staff as part of their SVS course.

Pupils planned, prepared and organised the event themselves, learning many skills including team work, dealing with money, leadership and public speaking. To raise extra money, they organised a prize raffle, which was drawn and announced by S3 pupil Kimberly Davidson. Thanks to the pupils and all the staff who got involved, Ardgowan Hospice was the happy recipient of a cheque for £270.

A One-Stop-Snack-Shop business was set up by Greenock Academy SVS pupils, following a little research into the eating habits of staff. Made to order high quality rolls, wraps and fillings were produced and sold at lunchtimes to very grateful staff, appreciative of the great taste and value of the offer. The products were prepared in the same hygienic conditions as a food outlet, all individually wrapped and refrigerated before they were delivered direct. The One-Stop-Snack-Shop team have kindly shared two of their most popular recipes with readers.

Prawn and Salad Wrap

• sundried tomato wrap
• shredded iceberg lettuce
• seafood sauce
• seasoning
• 2oz of small prawns

Chicken Mayo Sandwich

• multi seeded roll
• shredded lettuce
• mayonnaise
• 2oz wafer thin chicken breast
• seasoning

The issue of homelessness and how people become runaways was the focus for research and discussion during S1 Lifeskills studies at Greenock Academy in December. They were challenged to come up with a plan on how best to support the charity, Shelter, which helps over 100,000 people who are homeless or living in bad housing conditions every year.

Decision made. Everyone would work in their own home environment on household tasks to raise money for Shelter. They vacuumed, dusted, washed, tidied up and ran errands. One girl even tidied her sister's room!!

Over a two week period, families rallied round to help the S1 classes raise £433.40, which was presented in a cheque to Shelter at a school assembly.

While cleaning up for Shelter the children learned about the consequences of running away from home and the many difficulties faced by homeless people. They learned about earning, organising tasks, good accountancy practice and taking personal responsibility to achieve a group goal.

First year pupils at Greenock Academy are building relationships, learning about different cultures and foreign schools systems thanks to a clever email pen pal scheme, e-pals that links them weekly with a US school in Marion , Ohio .

The brainchild of S6 pupil Laura Galbraith, e-pals is thanks to her links with a family friend who teaches in a school in Marion . The fifth grade American pupils, the equivalent to S1 here, are able to email their Scottish e-pals every Friday afternoon. The Greenock Academy pupils meet Tuesdays at lunchtime to send their replies. Up to now, they have found out about many cultural characteristics including the Thanksgiving.

Laura hopes that when she leaves school at the end of her sixth year, the group will continue and go on to make links with the School for Orphans in Venda , South Africa , which already has strong links with Greenock Academy.

Three S3 pupils at Greenock Academy made and sold Christmas cards with a European flavour to raise funds for Robin House, run by the Children's Hospice Association Scotland at Loch Lomond .

They learnt how to make hand-crafted cards, adding greetings in French and German. A craft sale was organised to sell the cards along with gift tags and calendars. Some seasonal hospitality was put on for staff with Christmas cake washed down with mulled wine.

And all their hard work was worthwhile. They sold out stock and raised an amazing £250 for CHAS. The cheque is pictured being presented and the pupils have been invited to visit the Hospice in March.

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