« Back to 2004 News Archive

Academy Receives Excellence Award

STRANRAER Academy have been rewarded for their determination to increase levels of attainment and motivation within the school.

The Academy will tomorrow (Thursday) become the first Scottish secondary to receive the Schools Excellence award from information technology firm RM.

It comes after two years of hard work in which the attainment levels have risen steadily, particularly in maths. Much of the progress has been put down to the implementation of a new interactive method of teaching known as MathsAlive, which uses whiteboards, graphical calculators, games and specialist software to engage and motivate pupils.

Academy Rector Jimmy Higgins commented:

"We are delighted that our school has been recognised under the new Schools Excellence initiative.

"Full praise must go to all the teaching staff for embracing the new technology which we are now pleased to be rolling out to all departments within the Academy. Since the adoption of MathsAlive, pupils have shown a greater understanding of maths and those pupils in need of additional help spend 30 extra minutes with the new technology which has been extremely beneficial."