Carrick Academy pupil council were delighted to receive the news that they were the 2016 winners of Ayr Guildry’s Gibson T MacDonald Citizenship Award for schools.

This award by Ayr Guildry, which dates back to 1325, was given to the school due to the outstanding efforts from the pupil council to improve pupil voice and the day to day experiences within Carrick Academy.

The pupil voice was improved within the school by the creation of class reps. The process of putting this in place led to hustings and campaigning for reps to be voted through whole school elections.

The elected representatives then came together with the Head of Houses to produce a pupil improvement plan which drove improvement in the school from a pupil’s perspective.

The pupils were successful in improving the condition and facilities of the toilets, the renovation of the PE changing rooms, the creation of a bag drop off point and improvements in the dining hall experience including new furniture and décor.

They were also successful with grant funding as well as organising fundraising events to support these improvements.

The pupils were delighted to have won the award and S2 pupil Declan Gardner said, “It was a great for us to have a say in how to improve the school.

The pupil improvement plan gave us something to work towards and the creation of the bag drop off shelter area was something I really wanted to see happen.

The pupils have really got behind the whole house competitions which has brought more fun into the school.”

The school re-launched the house structure to the historical names of Crossraguel, Cargill and Culzean which celebrates the rich and long history of the school within the community.

Three members of staff were appointed head of houses; Mr Brown, Mr Wright and Miss Gibb.

The Head of Houses and pupils  organised inter-house competitions and challenges with pupils and staff able to gain house points throughout the year. Wider achievement of the pupils was also celebrated through this system.

All this led to Cargill being announced as the first winners of the House Shield at the school prize giving at the Carrick Centre. Miss Gibb was delighted to accept the trophy.