Last week's My Future Friday careers talk featured Hazel Wilson from High Life Highland who is the Active Schools Co-ordinator for the Inverness Royal Academy Associated School Group.

Hazel spoke about the different careers and pathways in Sport and Leisure available with High Life Highland as well as the route she took to get where she is.

It was fitting to have Hazel in on International Women's Day as she highlighted the career opportunities in Sport and Leisure and had a picture with the Young Leaders who are already working with her.

World Book Day in Geography - Exploring the World Through Words!

Yesterday, in celebration of World Book Day, our S1 Geography pupils are embarking on a journey like no other - diving into the captivating world of National Geographic articles!

We've witnessed our young explorers get lost in the wonders of the world, from the lush Amazon Rainforest to the vast plains of the Serengeti. Through these articles, they've not only discovered fascinating facts but also ignited their imagination to craft their very own stories.

Pupils had fun on this adventure, delving into literature and geography, where words transported us to far-off lands.

#GeographyExplorers #NationalGeographicJourney #BookLoversInGeography #WorldBookDay2022

This afternoon some of our Core pupils went along to the Caley Thistle Para-Football Festival. They played amazingly well, showed great sportsmanship and did an excellent job of representing our school. Well done boys!

A great YPI Scotlandfinal today!

S3 pupils have been participating in the Wood Foundation’s YPI Scotland Initiative – a programme designed to empower our young people to make a difference in their communities.

Pupils have competed in a number of rounds to reach the final event in order to secure £3000 for their chosen charity. We had 5 groups in the final, each representing one of the following causes: Mikeysline Maggie's Highlands Morning Call, Listening Ear Inverness & Inverness Woman’s Aid.

In a bid to secure the grant for the charities represented, each team pitched research they had conducted about their chosen charity to a panel of judges including: Cllr Andrew MacIntosh and Luthien Lark of Highland Third Sector Interface. After a long deliberation, the judges awarded £3000 to Maggie’s Highland! Well done to Sophie Brown, Melody Allan, Vilis Forstmanis.

Thank you to our judges who had a difficult task and the representatives from the charities that came to support. An huge well done to all the students involved - you were all brilliant!

MMaggie's HighlandsYYPI ScotlandMMikeyslineMMorning Call & Visiting ServiceLListening Ear at CCCIInverness Women's Aid

On Thursday the school hosted a Girls into Physics and Engineering event organised by the Institute of Physics (IOP). 22 S2 & S3 girls from the Academy were joined by girls from Milburn, Charleston, Dingwall, Tain, Fortrose & Farr. The participants rotated round 7 different workshops delivered by Dundee, Strathclyde, Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities along with the University of the Highlands and the Navy. Many topics were covered including optics, detection of different molecules on exoplanets, structural engineering, particle accelerators and remotely operated drones. All activities involved some hands-on experience as well as the opportunity to ask questions. Feedback from participants was very positive and Iain Moore, the Scotland chair of the IOP stated:

“What a well-run, welcoming event, with excellent engagement from the students attending, many of whom drove an hour and some 3 hours, to get there.

I haven’t seen the feedback yet but it was a real pleasure to see the girls getting on with curiosity and enthusiasm at tech, engineering and physics-y things”.

The aim of this event was to address and overcome the cultural misconception that physics and engineering are only for boys and is part of the IOP’s Limitless campaign. The UK has, as a percentage, around the least number of female professional engineers within Europe. Girls attainment in Physics at the school is on a par if not better than their male counterparts so it would be great to see more girls in the Physics and Engineering Science departments leading to the many rewarding careers in STEM beyond school.

Well done to all those involved!

Check out our photos in the photo gallery!

Following a really successful day on Monday at the Green Energy Careers Expo please find links below for the coverage by the Inverness Courier, MFR and STV News. It was great to have pupils involved in this!

Inverness Courier Article

MFR News

STV News