HRH The Earl of Wessex visits Fortrose Academy
Excitement was high at Fortrose Academy earlier today (Thursday 23 September) with pupils, staff and members of the community gathering to give a right royal welcome to special guest, HRH The Earl of Wessex KG KCVO.
On arrival at the school, HRH was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant for Ross and Cromarty, Mrs Janet Bowen and the rhythmic sound of the school Samba band which set the colourful and lively atmosphere for his visit. Braving the weather outside and proving that one wheel can be more fun than two were, Katie and Emma Houston from S3 and S4 pupils Ellie and Jess Leggat and Cara Henderson demonstrating their unicycle skills.
There was just as much activity going on inside the school. Head Teacher Douglas Simpson escorted HRH to the Main hall where 230 S1 and S2 pupils were waiting. The talents of young linguists Heather MacGregor (S6), Jennifer Coulshed (S6), Joanna O’Driscoll (S2), Rebecca Cooper (S5), Calum Barker (S5) and Seamus Barker (S3). were put to good use when they each took turns to give an international welcome in six languages - Malawian, German, Russian, Innuit, French and Gaelic. There was then time to enjoy a short drama sketch on the legendary local character, “The Brahan Seer” performed by the S2 Drama Group with the help of their English teachers Miss Eleanor Treanor and Mrs Chris MacKellar.
HRH was then taken on a tour of the ground floor of the school. The first stop was to watch preschool children enjoying a Kindergym session led by six Junior Sports Leadership Award pupils from S5 with Pre School and Leisure Centre Staff. To accompany the energetic youngsters was the school’s Ceilidh Band who HRH enjoyed listening to and chatting with before touring three classrooms.
The first class room visited was to meet S1 pupils studying Physics. Former pupil Neil Paul who won the most outstanding pupil award at the International Space School had turned up to talk to the class about his experience. In the next classroom HRH meet and chatted to 30 S1 pupils studying History before following enticing cooking smells that led to the Home Economics department. There a S2 class had been busy baking healthy muffins with interesting flavour combinations including chocolate and beetroot with their teacher Mrs Johansen.
HRH was then invited into the community library to meet pre-school children who were enjoying a story session in the children’s area. Also enjoying the atmosphere in the library was a group of local senior citizens who were being served refreshments by S3,4 and 5 pupils from the school’s xl group. Although there was no time to stop for a cuppa, HRH managed to speak to both the young and the older people with much laughter filling the room.
Before meeting more young people in the school Theatre HRH was introduced to teachers and pupils from the Mulanje Mission Day Secondary School in Malawi who arrived at the school last week as part of an exchange trip.
Groups in the Theatre included 6 pupils working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards with the assistance of science teacher Mrs Emma Blake as well as the Junior Sports Leaders who earlier on had been helping to run the Kindergym. Taking time to speak to everyone, HRH was then introduced to Youth Worker Wanda Mackay who talked about some of the community initiatives the young people are involved in and had a colourful display of entries in a recent photography competition.Lucy Payne, Michael Manson and Sean Kelman from S6 then talked to HRH about the school’s success in the European Business Game and showed him the array of awards before Kerry Williamson and Ellie Cooper told him about the school’s Young Enterprise project.
As the visit drew to a close HRH met Cllr Barclay and his wife plus four of the young people involved in running the Fortrose Youth Café which many of the pupils enjoy going to. Before signing the visitors book HRH was presented with a gift by S5 pupil Emily Cairns who last year had won the schools special Endeavour Award. The gift of glasses engraved with the school’s logo was gratefully accepted and Head Teacher Douglas Simpson thanked HRH for coming to visit. As HRH made his way to the waiting car the whole school gathered around to give a loud rousing cheer.
Douglas Simpson praised all the pupils and staff. He said: “It has been a real honour to have HRH as our guest today and I was particularly struck by the real interest and enthusiasm he had learning about the many and varied opportunities the team of staff are providing and how the young people respond so positively in such a creative and dynamic environment. The ethos of our school is to promote excellence and participation and today I was very proud to see everyone enjoying talking about and promoting their work and their school in such a positive way. HRH made everyone he spoke to very relaxed and was obviously very keen to hear from the young people themselves about their experiences and wishes for their futures. In a short time we managed to give a good flavour of what the school is about and the visit will be remembered by us all for many years to come.”