St Joseph's Academy – East Ayrshire

Dear Pupils and Parents/Carers,

Please see letters from Linda McAulay-Griffiths (Head of Education) in advance of the release of SQA results.

Letter to young people

Letter to Parents/Carers

Dear Pupils and Parents/Carers,

As you may be aware, SQA will release exam results to young people on Tuesday 4th August. SLT and Pastoral staff will be in school on Tuesday to take calls and offer support where necessary.

Given the unique nature of certification this session, we anticipate that a number of parents/carers or pupils will wish to speak to school staff on Tuesday. The window for addressing potential appeals is short and as such we encourage you to call on Tuesday if you have any concerns you wish to discuss.

Please be aware of the following:

• All calls will be taken by office staff who will ask for the following information
  • Pupil name, Parent/Carer name, contact number
  • Subject(s) where there is a concern you would like to discuss
• SLT or Pastoral Care staff will return all calls related to SQA grades on Tuesday
• Calls not related to SQA matters may or may not be returned on Tuesday
  • Staff are in school on a voluntary basis to deal with SQA matters and these will take priority over all other calls
• Option changes can be discussed on Tuesday, but will likely require follow up in week 1 of the new session

In terms of potential SQA appeals, it is important to consider the following:

• A candidate is eligible for review (appeal) only when the they have been awarded a lower grade than the grade estimated by the school
  • Example of where an appeal is possible – School estimated a B, candidate receives a C
  • Example of where an appeal is not possible – School estimated a B, candidate received a B
• This means that where the grade achieved is the same as or better than what the school estimated then we cannot appeal
  • If this is the case we will notify you on Tuesday
• Parents/Carers and Pupils should be aware that a review (appeal) can result in downgrading as well as upgrading

Re-opening

It is less than helpful that the release of new re-opening guidance broadly coincides with SQA results day. I hope parents/carers will understand that school staff must prioritise SQA matters and appeals in the early part of next week.

We will consider the newly released re-opening guidance and any implications for our site in the coming days. We will also work closely with local authority colleagues before sharing further and final re-opening guidance on either Wednesday 5th or Thursday 6th August.

We fully appreciate that this is very close to the start of the new session, but have no control over the fact that two significant and unique pieces of work were released to us at roughly the same time and during a period where most of our staff are on holiday.

I thank you for your ongoing patience and will provide as much clarity as possible next week.  Despite the logistical challenges we may face in the coming weeks, we do very much look forward to welcoming our young people back to St. Joseph’s.

Please enjoy what is left of the summer holiday period.

Kind Regards

Mr Kane

All S1-S3 award winners have now received an electronic copy of their certificates.  Remember to tune in to your Virtual Award Ceremony on Thursday using the link sent in your email. Well done everyone!

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you may have heard, Mr. Swinney has announced a potential change to the circumstances in August. Please note, the plans shared by the Scottish Government are conditional on scientific evidence.

Much of our communication refers solely to the blended model, and is either on the way to you via post or will be sent tomorrow. It is still necessary to share the plans we released this week in case the scientific evidence in August necessitates the use of a blended model.