NEW TIMETABLE 20/21

Today sees us move virtually to our 2020/21 Timetable.  There has been a considerable amount of work undertaken to bring us to this point – both administratively and digitally.  As always, there will be teething problems as we move to a new timetable and there will be requests for subject changes etc.  Where these have been reported to us – we will work through these requests as quick as we possibly can.

We are aware of a few classes which slightly over subscribed – it may be that these are resolved naturally through requests for subject changes etc and we will continue to review these.

Show My Homework is a third-party platform and therefore any changes made on our School Management System need to be transmitted through and this can sometimes take 24 hours to show on Show My Homework.  It has been working fairly efficiently since the weekend, but we are aware of a few areas that have not pulled through fully.  It is hoped these will be rectified in the coming days.

 

ONLINE LEARNING

As we begin our new timetable we are moving to slightly different structure to our Online Learning.  One of the recurring positives from our Pupil Survey was that pupils enjoyed having the freedom to structure their own day/week and to engage with work as and when they could.  However, this was made more challenging as often they were receiving messages/tasks on different days or times spread throughout the week and it could make it difficult to plan out their learning.  As a result, pupils asked us to consider:

• Allocating more time to tasks
• Shorter tasks
• Posting all tasks for the week on a Monday
• Not setting work over the weekend/holiday
• Using Zoom for real time lessons

To action this and to build on the positive features highlighted above staff have been asked to outline the tasks for the week in one single post.  This will be shared on a Monday with a end date of Friday.  Whilst these posts may be slightly larger they will contain the tasks to be completed, if able, over the course of the entire week.  This will allow pupils to plan out their learning to suit them.  This will apply to all S1 – S3 subjects (excluding Maths).

Although the initial post will be released on the Monday (Wednesday of this week), pupils will still be able to engage with staff on the content and submit work throughout the week.

We have learned a lot about how Show My Homework works over the past few weeks and are aware that the experience for pupils using the mobile app is different from those accessing via a web browser.  It is hoped that the changes above will further help this.

As we begin our new S4 – S6 courses, some departments may follow the same plan as detailed above but there may initially be a need for additional contact due to courses just beginning.  Therefore, S4 to S6 will remain slightly more open and we will review this as the term progresses.

We have had a number of requests about Zoom meetings or Microsoft Teams Video Lessons.  At present, due to East Ayrshire policy we are not able to provide these.  We are exploring other ways to best use these facilities to enable more interactive sessions for pupils where possible.

Staff have been working incredibly hard to generate course materials for online learning, upskilling our own digital skills and finding ways to be creative with our curriculum – particularly for subjects which rely so heavily on access to specific resources that may only be available within the school building.

As ever, we thank you for your continued support, encouragement and patience as we work together at this time.

Thank you