Good evening,

I am writing to bring staff, pupils and parents up to speed with the COVID-19 situation and its impact on our school as it stands on Tuesday evening.

We have had another immensely challenging day and I could not be more grateful for the work of our teaching and non teaching staff in maintaining a calm, purposeful learning environment for our young people today. The office staff have been under severe pressure taking calls and recording absence and have been absolutely appreciative of the wide support they have received from parents during a very unsettling period.

Like every other school, we have a significant number of pupils and staff now self-isolating either because they are exhibiting symptoms (isolating for 7 days), living in a household with someone exhibiting symptoms (isolating for 14 days unless they exhibit symptoms, at which point they should isolate for 7 days from the day the symptoms present) or because they have an underlying health condition or are pregnant, as specified by government guidance (isolating until further notice).

We have looked at the attendance statistics from the end of today and our expected staffing levels for tomorrow. With additional supply staff booked in for tomorrow, we are in a position to open the school as normal for pupils not self-isolating for any of the reasons stated above. It is essential that pupils and staff already self-isolating continue to do so for the appropriate number of days.

The First Minister has tonight stated that “it is highly possible we will see a more blanket approach to school closures in the coming days”. We are continuing to prepare for this potential outcome by placing as many resources as possible online for pupils in the Senior Phase (S4-6) through Glow, Teams, Sharepoint and Show My Homework. We are also working on our contingency plans for S1-3 and collating an extensive bank of resources to support them with meaningful work in the event of a school closure.

Ultimately, our main job for now remains to look after the health and wellbeing of pupils, staff and parents, deliver high quality learning to our pupils in school and do as much as we can to support self-directed learning at home. As the situation progresses, so to will our ability to support the later and more guidance will follow in due course to help parents understand what this looks like as it takes shape.

This really is an unprecedented situation and one that is presenting monumental challenges not only to school, but to wider society. First and foremost, I urge you to take care of yourselves, your family and those around you and continue to exhibit the resilience, compassion and understanding that makes me proud to lead and be associated with Stewarton Academy. We will continue striving to do the best we can in every situation with the information we have available at the time.

Take care

Ryan Miller
Head Teacher