School Activities

Enterprising Maths Competition

On 22 June four pupils attended the Aberdeen heat of the Enterprising Maths Competition. We started the day with a poster competition on the theme of Cryptography and Encryption. We had prepared for this in the weeks leading up to the competition, had completed research on the topic and designed and constructed a 3D model of a Cipher Wheel.

We then took part in four challenges – team, speed, swiss and relay. The team round lasted 45 minutes and we worked together to solve a set of questions which were all of high difficulty. The speed round consisted of eight practical and problem-solving challenges and we were allowed five minutes to solve each. During the swiss round we had to play strategy games in pairs head to head against other schools. The day ended with a relay round in which we answered questions in pairs as fast and as accurately as possible. We had to run between each of our pairs delivering and collecting the questions.

We won three of the four rounds (the poster competition was judged separately) and we are therefore the overall winners in Aberdeen City for 2018, which means that we have qualified for the Scottish Final in Glasgow later this year.

AMOPA at Aberdeen Grammar School

Success for Advanced Higher French Pupils

Pupils studying for Advanced Higher French, including myself, took part in a competition promoted by the prestigious AMOPA (L’Association des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques). In order to enter the competition we had to create a piece of French and record it. Our criteria were that we must have good pronunciation, intonation and flow to get across to the listener our passion for our chosen subject.

I myself chose to speak about Edith Piaf, the world renowned French singer known for her guttering vibrato. Choosing to speak about Piaf’s songs not only allowed me to enhance my knowledge, thanks to my research, but also to gain experience in relating the songs to her life.

The AMOPA panel is made up of a group of native French speakers who assess the recording of each candidate and mark it appropriately. We were all very proud to achieve “Très Bien” for our performances.

Our certificates were presented by Professor Phillip Bennett of Edinburgh, and we received valuable feedback which helped significantly with our preparation for the final Speaking Assessment for SQA. Our participation in the

AMOPA awards enabled us to better prepare for the exam and work on technicalities such as pace, pronunciation and tonality.

It was a worthwhile experience which I would recommend to others. “Bonne Chance aux Candidats de l’avenir”

Iona Johnston S6

Developing the Young Workforce

Careers Talk

Developing the Young Workforce is the youth employment strategy of the Scottish government which aims significantly to reduce youth unemployment in Scotland by 2021. One of the main themes of DYW is that employers and schools should enter into long-term partnerships which focus on preparing young people for employment.

This Careers Talk came about through a flagship partnership between the School and big four professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP who are supporting the School in a variety of ways to promote themselves and career pathways such as apprenticeships and graduate-level entry to young people, to help them to improve their employability skills and also to support classroom activities by relating learning to an accountancy/business context.

The talk was delivered by three of EY’s Aberdeen-based apprentices to all S6 pupils in order to highlight the various routes which can be taken to obtain a career in this sector. It was followed up by an insight evening at their Aberdeen office.

Pupils will gain an insight into the ways to join EY and the chance to apply for the company’s summer business academy, and will get real life examples of the business world through a curricular link with the School’s Business Studies Department. As a collaborative relationship, EY will benefit from the chance to increase young people’s awareness of EY and hope to recruit some of their future apprentices from the School.

School staff have welcomed the arrangement and were pleased to see former pupils now working as apprentices with EY, whose recruitment adviser welcomes the School’s involvement in this scheme which can only benefit both parties to the arrangement.

The Framework of Design

Eight Grammar pupils interested in careers in architecture were able to take part in a series of Architecture workshops which ran throughout the duration of an

exhibition “The Framework of Design” organised by students from Robert Gordon University in the Bon Accord Centre in March.

The workshops involved working in teams to design and construct the tallest and most stable building out of a series of materials which the RGU students provided. The best group was showcased on RGU’s social media at the end of the week.

Pupils also had the opportunity to take part in a number of interactive points throughout the exhibition where they could obtain information about studying Architecture and learn about the process of design and how this fits into the degree course.

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

Nicole Lloyd recently presented a STEM talk to pupils in S2 and S3. She is a NASA scientist who is currently studying for a doctorate in Microbiology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her presentation focused on her experiences and the opportunities which STEM subjects can provide in both an industrial and educational context. It was a very informative talk and Nicole took a range of questions on STEM-related careers.

Careers at Sea Northlink Ferry Visit

During Tidal Tuesday, on 6 March 2018, five Grammar pupils took part in a tour of the m.v. Hrossey, one of the Northlink ferries,. The tour was led by two deck cadets who gave an insight into the career path which they had chosen. The pupils had a tour from the bridge to the engine room, highlighting careers from Deck Officers to Engineering Officers and many of the hospitality jobs involved on a ferry. The School is very grateful to Northlink for facilitating this visit.

The Merchant Navy Training Board’s ‘Careers at Sea’ campaign, for the first time, sponsored a day during National Careers Week in March to promote opportunities in the Merchant Navy. The campaign’s aim was to inform schools, colleges and youth groups of the careers available at sea for young people and the lifelong career prospects offered by the maritime industry, with emphasis on the diverse range of professional opportunities available to young people who choose to enter the UK’s most international sector, at a time when an ageing population and growth in the global shipping industry have led to increased demand for British seafarers.

Merchant Navy careers are an alternative to the university route and provide sponsored training, a professional qualification and worldwide travel. Using high tech equipment on the most advanced vessels in the world, a career at sea is like no other.

The Balfour Beattie Project

All S3 pupils took part in the “I Built It” Project in November. The purpose of the event was to introduce pupils to the construction industry and to consider it as a potential career once they leave school. This fits into the Developing the Young Workforce agenda.

Staff from the three main contractors on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road – Balfour Beattie, Morrison Construction and Carillion – led the workshop, working with pupils to help them to design and build a new model town. Pupils were split into two main groups – the Dee and the Don – and produced various models to fulfil the brief which they had been given.

During the day pupils were given two main presentations about the construction industry, highlighting the different routes which they could take in order to gain employment, from apprenticeships to graduate entry. The potential career paths which pupils could take were also outlined. Overall this was a successful inter-disciplinary day which was enjoyed by both pupils and staff.

Project K

A group of six of the School’s Young Engineers recently won a Project K competition held at Marischal College. They were competing against six other teams from across the city. The boys had spent a great deal of their own time on researching and developing their proposal which they had to present to a panel of four judges and an audience from the City Council.

Project K is a problem-solving competition designed to get young people between 14 and 18 years of age thinking about problems within their communities which could be tackled by using new technologies. The key problem-solving aspect of the project is framed around digital technology, design and software application development. Teams of young people work together on an ‘App’ which will address a particular challenge which they experience within their own community and/or environment. Aberdeen City Council run the competition by facilitating workshops and presentations and also provide the competition prizes of four 3D printers. The successful ‘App’ will be further developed where appropriate and either aligned to the ‘City Lab’ initiative or

developed independently. Young persons involved have a guaranteed ‘goodwill’ offer of job experience to further develop their skills.

Chalk Talk – Battlefields

In October 2017, my classmates and I had the opportunity to travel to Belgium and France to visit the battlefields of WW1. We set off early on Friday 6th to drive to Hull to get the ferry over to Zeebrugge which was west of Ypres where we were to be staying. As soon as we got off the ferry we went straight to the Black Watch Corner where an out-numbered Scottish force defended Ypres from some of the best German troops before getting reinforcements. We then visited Sanctuary Woods where we were able to walk in the trenches to experience the difficult life that soldiers had whilst living in them. There was also a museum at Sanctuary Woods which we had time to look around and see some original photos from the battles. Our next stop was the Pool of Peace which is a huge crater caused by a mine explosion. We also visited the Hooge crater museum.

The next day we went to the Newfoundland Park near Arras in France. We were taken around the park and told all about the battle of the Somme. In Newfoundland Park, myself and my classmate Ben laid a wreath at the 51st Gordon Highlanders Memorial which commemorates the men of the 51st Highland Division which captured the village of Beaumont Hamel on 13th October 1916.

Our next stop was the Thiepval Memorial where we learned about some soldiers who were awarded a Victoria Cross for their acts of bravery. There are the names of over 72,000 soldiers who died in WW1 written on panels around the Memorial. Maddie and Arthur laid a wreath. We then visited La Boisselle, Dartmoor Cemetery and Pozieres. The next memorial we visited was the Vimy Ridge Memorial commemorating all the soldiers who fought at the battle of Vimy Ridge.

The next day we went to Essex Farm where we were told the story of Valentine Strudwick who was 15 years old when he died fighting on the western front. He is the youngest known British soldier to die there. This impacted the group the most, as we are all 15 and if we were born 100 years earlier then that could have been one of us, if we were a boy. At Essex Farm, we also learned about the famous poem by John McCrae “In Flanders Field”. Our next stop was Poelkapelle cemetery where we were each given a poppy and assigned a grave on which to lay it. Over 80% of the graves in the cemetery were unidentified. Our next stop was Passchendaele, after which we went to Tyne Cot where we learned about a former Aberdeen Grammar School pupil. We next visited one out of four German cemeteries in Belgium called Langemark. In Langemark there are 44,000 soldiers buried and there is a mass grave that contains 24,917