Alford Academy

Congratulations to S4 pupil Stuart and the considerable achievements he has made recently.

The Next Big Thing:

On March 4th Stuart went down to Glasgow to compete in the 2nd round of heats at a Venue called ‘The Bungalow’.  He played ‘Lucy’s song’ and was one of six who made it through to the finals. Although he did not win the judges comments were:

Wow, wow wow – what a nice song.  Great vocal tone, just perfect.  Great control.  Lovely performance, so emotional. Brilliant songwriter. Guitar playing was great, what a talented young man, you have a big future ahead of you.’

The Emmerdale – U have Talent:

On March 15th Stuart competed in the Inverurie heat of this Scottish Competition.  He won the heat and now goes through to the Final on the 9th June at Leonardo’s Hotel, Aberdeen Airport.  The final will be judged by celebrity judges and ITV team.  The overall champion will be invited to perform live on 10th June at The Big Bash Ball with Emmerdale.

On the 24th March he released his 2nd single ‘A Long Way Home’.  This song is about bullying and the effects it has on people and their mental health.

Scottish Schools GLEE competition:

On 28th April, Stuart was invited to perform as an Alumni at the Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire heat finals at the Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen.  At this event a reporter from the P&J heard Stuart’s performance and has asked to do an article on Stuart and his musical journey.  This interview is taking place on Wednesday 17th May at 4pm.

May Day / Kings Coronation Celebrations:

Stuart was invited to perform on 30th May at Inverurie Town Hall as part of ‘The Lockdown Live – Unlocked’ weekend.  This was a facebook group that was created during lockdown to provide a platform to showcase live music when no- one could leave the house.

He was also invited to perform outside Inverurie Town Hall on Sunday 7th May as part of the Inverurie Street Party to celebrate the King’s Coronation.  On both occasions Stuart performed a 30 minute session during which he played a selection of covers and original songs.

Young Songwriter Competition 2023:

Most recently, Stuart has just heard that his song ‘Promises and Regrets’ has made it to the Top 10 of this National competition.

Stuart’s song is about living with Type 1 diabetes and the challenges it brings. This years competition attracted around 1,000 high quality entries from aspiring songwriters aged 8-18 across the world.  The Top 10 in each category are now invited to perform their song on Saturday 23rd September at The Young Songwriter 2023 live showcase held at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill, London where the winners and runners up will be announced.

14 students embraced the opportunity to become Junior Rangers and discover, explore and conserve four different countryside sites in the Cairngorms National Park. Over the course of the week they gained an understanding of different Ranger roles and learnt about biodiversity, land management, and responsible access.

At Dorenell windfarm on Monday, EDF Rangers Stephen and Rebecca showed them into a wind turbine, lead a walk that explored land management practices and explained the eagle monitoring project they work on. On Tuesday, the Junior Rangers learnt how to identify moth species thanks to Helen from Aberdeenshire Council Ranger Service, explored Muir of Dinnet and set camera traps with Kirstin from NatureScot and adventured behind the Burn O’Vat waterfall. The Junior Rangers explored Glen Tanar by mountain bike on Wednesday, finding geocaches along the way and learning about biodiversity, responsible access and fire control with Rangers Eric and Rory. Balmoral Rangers Georgia and Glyn taught the Junior Rangers how to restore peatland at Loch Muick on Thursday and they fully immersed themselves in building leaky dams and relocating sphagnum moss. And on Friday they worked in groups to produce presentations and deliver them to teachers and peers in order to share what they had taken away from the week.

As a result of their hard work they were all presented with their John Muir Awards by Will, Ranger for the Cairngorms National Park Authority, who coordinated and supported the Junior Rangers throughout the week.

It was brilliant to see the students engaging with these important topics and expanding their skills, knowledge and confidence so that they might take critical decisions in the future.

S3 Geography pupils have recently been carrying out presentations to their classmates in order to win contracts for their allocated renewable energy company. The pupils were tasked with putting forward their ideas for their company and worked in groups to win votes from the other classmates. The classes had representatives from wind, hydro, solar, tidal and biofuel energy.  The winning group was the representatives from wind energy and included Callum, Ethan and Rocco.

Alford Academy in the news…

https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/partnership-approach-increases-cycling-opportunities-for-young-people-3885100

 

 

The Senior boys football team travelled to Stonehaven for an Aberdeenshire Cup match on Thursday 13^th October.  The boys had performed well in their previous two games but had come away empty handed and were determined to put things right against Mackie Academy.  Alford had the better of the first half and created a couple of chances but failed to hit the back of the net.  The Alford defence of Blair, Angus, Frasier and Nicol were comfortable at the back and snuffing out any threats on Grant’s goal.

The second half started with a greater intensity and Alford took the lead after some determined play from Ben down the left wing, his outside of the boot cross went across the 6 yards box and Jack came flying in at the back post to strike the ball under the Mackie ‘keeper.  Mackie equalised a short time later and then took the lead with 10 minutes remaining.  Alford managed to get back on equal terms with 5 minutes to go after Ben had won a free kick on the left wing.  Shay swung his free kick to the back post and Innes connected with a strong downwards header that nestled in the back of the net.  Both teams tried hard to find a winner, but the full-time whistle went, and it was straight to penalties.

Mackie went first and Grant saved their first spot kick with a great save down to his right.  Liam, Adam, Innes and Ewan all converted their penalties, but Alford missed the second penalty and it ended up going into sudden death.  Harrison scored Alford’s 6^th pen and Grant delivered a huge save on Mackie’s 7^th penalty, so it came down to Shay who buried his penalty to send Alford through to the next round.  Shay managed to block out a lot of noise from the Mackie fans, who numbered around 60 or so, to convert his penalty.

The boys worked hard, and this victory was well deserved after decent performances in the previous two games.  We head to Banff on Thursday 3^rd November for the 2^nd round fixture.  Well done boys, a great team performance from all 15 involved and I’m glad your hard work was rewarded with a victory.