Teaching staff, travelling from across Argyll and Bute, arrived to a warm welcome at Dunoon Grammar School on Friday, 21 September 2012 thanks to a group of S3 DGS pupils. The pupils from the S3 Administration & IT class had sacrificed a long-lie during their extra day off to ensure the planning day for authority teachers ran smoothly.
The purpose of the day was to allow teachers from each subject area to get together to discuss, plan and organise courses for the new National qualifications. S3 pupils from DGS are already working on these new qualifications and those from the Administration & IT class put some of their newly acquired event administration skills to good use to help plan, run and review the day.
Before the day, pupils compiled a list of teachers attending the Business & Computing meeting. Invites and a questionnaire allowing relevant teachers to give their views on the day were sent to every secondary school in Argyll & Bute. The pupils also booked a venue within the school and liaised with janitors and technicians to organise seating and computer technology. The pupils also liaised with a guest speaker from the Scottish Qualifications Authority to organise his involvement and contribution. A schedule for the day was then sent to all attending. The pupils then produced a reception register, name badges and a pack of materials for those attending.
On the day, the pupils got in position at the school reception and professionally and warmly welcomed teachers arriving for the meeting – issuing names badges and information packs and making sure the reception register was completed. The pupils then escorted teachers to morning refreshments, before guiding them to the location where their meeting took place.
This week the pupils have helped to analyse a post-event evaluation questionnaire and sent an email of thanks to the guest speaker from the SQA.
This staff in-service day is the second event organised by the S3 Administration & IT class. A staff 90 metre race held in June raised £300 for the Yorkhill Sick Children’s Charity.
Mr Shaw, Head Teacher added “I am extremely proud of the professionalism of the young people involved in this event. The feedback from the questionnaire showed their input in planning and running the event contributed to the day’s success. The fact the pupils gave up the morning of their extra day off to run the event speaks volume for their commitment to making a contribution to their school community.”
