Mr Adamson took Valeriia Muliar and Kateryna Kedyk S4, along to speak at the Highland Council Education Committee on Wednesday this week. Both girls spoke fantastically well receiving a standing ovation from the councillors and education staff in attendance. They talked about their personal experience of leaving  Ukrainian to arriving in Aviemore and starting school at KHS. It was a great achievement for both girls and Mr Adamson is extremely proud of them both. 

Future Asset Investment competition team members join their mentor Angus Tulloch for a workshop session.  They also interview head of TOMRA investor relations, Georgiana Radulescu and local sales representative for Solar Edge panels, Andy Blair!

#budgeupdave #IAmAnAsset  TOMRA Recycling SolarEdge Technologies Inc.

The rural skills class were hard at it on the estate building bird boxes. Work rate was excellent and Mr Adamson had the pleasure of their company on Thursday. Well done everyone and big shout out to Mrs Rankin for her efforts too. 

The Academy9 team had a fantastic 3 days working with the S2 pupils of Grantown Grammar and Kingussie High School.  It felt like a real privilege to be involved with the pupils of both schools.  The results of their work to produce a design solution for a bridge with various engineering and environmental constraints were varied, detailed and fantastic.  The pupils had to harness their teamwork, communication, problem solving, numeracy, literacy, creativity skills to complete the project and they all persevered through various challenges to succeed in their end goal.  Pupils commented that they had, ‘improved my communication skills’, ‘made lots of new friends’, ‘learned to juggle’, ‘would like to learn more about construction careers now’.  Through survey evidence pupils have reported an improved knowledge of STEM careers, from 48% reporting good to excellent knowledge before and 94% reporting good to excellent knowledge after the event.  We were also so pleased to welcome parents to see the results of the pupils’ work, witness the pupils bridge models being tested to destruction and celebrate the awarding of prizes for aesthetics, sustainability, innovation, teamwork and bridge strength.  The Academy9 team have really enjoyed their work this week, ‘a real boost to morale’ promoting our passion for the STEM careers we do, with future generations.  We can’t wait to come back again.

#DYWICH #Beyondtheclassroom #growingourown

Fifteen girls travelled to Ardnamurchan High School on Wednesday to compete in the annual Donella Crawford 6 aside tournament. The younger of the two teams put in a number of excellent performances, winning two of their matches, drawing two and having two defeats. Different girls took turns to go in goals, but the star keeper turned out to be Kate. Alice played in a number of different positions and was never afraid to get in the way of the ball. We had determined defenders in Kirsty, Tully (when she wasn't falling over!) and Adele. Lexi was an excellent forward, scoring a number of good goals. However, this team's star player was captain Eleanor who never stopped running and managed a hat-trick of goals in the team's final game against Ardnamurchan.

The older, more experienced team scrambled wins with their first few games, although they were held to a draw by Culloden. The forwards were hitting the net on a regular basis, with Hope, Gabi and the two Millie's all proving really effective. Kirsty, Catrin and Gabi all took turns playing in the centre and at the back, as the team progressed to the semi-final. However, despite dominating the game against Glenurquhart, they missed a number of chances and saw the opposition score with their only attack. Star players for this team were the ever-reliable Iona who was a superbly strong defender throughout and Jess who turned out to be an excellent keeper making some great saves and powerful hit outs. Jess and Iona also managed to score, when a Jess clearance ricocheted off the back of Iona's helmet and back into the net!

All the girls were excellent ambassadors for the school. A big thanks to Ellie for coming along to help with the coaching.