Dear S6,
Firstly, I am sorry I missed you during your final week in school. For personal reasons, I was not able to be in school at that time. I have since had a chance to see the video of your guard of honour and I am glad that we were able to mark your farewell in some way. I think that you have started a tradition likely to stay with us in years to come. Now that things are settling slightly in terms of online learning, I wish to send you a message here to express my thanks for all you have done for our school community. I know that you will have lots of questions about the prom, yearbook, exams and what you should or should not be doing in terms of online learning. Here is a brief overview.
Prom
As you will understand, all proms were cancelled across Scotland, including our own. The practicalities of organising another prom are likely to be fairly complex, but if there is a will amongst your cohort we will find a way. Whenever schools re-open, we will make contact with you to determine viability or otherwise. Given that by that time, many of you will likely be at University, College or in employment, we cannot be certain that it will happen but we will take our lead from you in terms of your willingness or otherwise to have a formal prom.
In the event that a formal gathering is not possible, we will have some form of farewell in school and exclusively for your year group. You will understand that we cannot be more specific on this until we know when schools will re-open.
Year Book
Laura has sent the final draft to Miss Quigley and I. I need to add my comments and it will then be ready for circulation once the publishers generate the PDF version. Hard copies will be available once school re-opens.
Exams and SQA certification
As you are aware, the SQA are asking that school staff submit estimates by the 29th May. Work in school is ongoing and a range of evidence will be used to come to a professional judgement on which estimated grade is appropriate for you. We are also in contact with other schools in East Ayrshire for those of you studying Advanced Highers elsewhere. We are unable to share any estimates with pupils in advance of SQA certification in August. The SQA has released further information for pupils, which can be found here within the ‘NQ section’:
https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93797.html
As the SQA are the awarding body, the school will respect and adhere to the process and procedure laid out by the SQA.
Parents/Carers may wish to read the school level guidance discussed at our Parent Council meeting earlier this week.
Online Learning
Some S6 pupils have accessed Glow and I know that information on SAAS loan applications has been shared within Glow and via Twitter. However, we also realise that this is what would have been study leave, and at the end of the month, you would have effectively left school. As such, there is no expectation that you continue with any work set, particularly when we change timetable on the 11th May. We would advise that you instead enjoy time with family and begin to source learning materials relevant to your chosen pathway. In this regard, we will publish some generic links via Pupil Support staff in the coming weeks.
We are still very much available to you for Pastoral Care or advice. Your Pupil Support teacher will respond to any concerns or queries you raise, as will Miss Quigley. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need advice or support. Kate Faulds, our SDS careers advisor, is also available to you and virtual appointments can be arranged via Pupil Support staff.
Communication
As I am sure you will appreciate, transitioning to online learning and home working presents many challenges, and one such challenge is access to the school servers and information held there. As a result, letters by post and email to parents are not currently possible. Our main forms of communication are our social media accounts and the school app. We would still encourage you to access our social media channels. I will post a copy of this message on our website tomorrow, and will send a SMS to your parents/carers directing them to this message.
I also ask that you let your friends know that this message is here within Glow as we cannot be certain that all S6 will access Glow mail on a regular basis.
Farewell
It is highly unusual to wish you every success for the future via email. No more will I have the chance to ask that you remove your outdoor jacket, or greet you when you arrive in school each morning. What I can still do is pray for your future success, and let you know with certainty that you are always welcome within our school community. Thank you for your kindness over the two years spent with you. I hope that in time, you will come back to St. Joseph’s for a formal farewell, and further down the line remember those times at school that you enjoyed. While each of you will have your own personal memories of school, often those that stay with you in the long term are of social times spent with friends or memories of one or two staff who you felt went that extra mile for you. I know the wider staff group will miss you greatly and this message is also a reflection of their desire to let you know that they are thinking of you.
Until such times as this passes, please take care, look out for one another and believe in yourselves. I certainly believe in you. Should you need anything from me, please reply to this message without hesitation.
Kind Regards
Mr Kane
