All S4 and S5 pupils, please log in to your year group Google Classroom. There are clear instructions there telling you how to sign up for your S5 and S6 Google Classrooms for your new courses. We would like you to sign up as soon as possible to ensure everyone is ready to begin new learning.

Please read the post carefully, and only join the classes that you selected with your pastoral teacher at your interview. If you have any concerns or worries about your choices, please contact schoolmail@barrhead.e-renfrew.sch.uk and your email will be forwarded to your pastoral teacher. You can also make contact directly through the year group Google Classroom.

If you have opted for a vocational course, you should still sign up for your full timetable, as the vocational courses do not begin until August.

Tomorrow is the start of the new term but please note the school building will not be open to pupils or staff. Instead we will continue to support learning and teaching through online methods, which will resume tomorrow, following the Easter break.

I have sent a letter giving an update to all parents & carers using the personal email address of the main contact where we have it (if you have not received it, please let us know your email address so we can update our records).

In case you have not received it, I have added a copy of the letter below.

A few parents have been asking about school trips and in particular, refunds.

The Lochgoilhead trip did not happen and we not expecting that any of the other 4 trips scheduled before June will now be able to run.

We are currently in negotiations with all the travel companies and also ERC insurance regarding the situation.

I have sent a letter to all ‘Main Parental Contact’s email address drawing attention to some of the issues we are currently facing and how we are addressing these (if you have not received this email please let us know your email address so we can update our records). There is a copy of the letter at the link below.

 I have been informed that the recruitment process for the Head Teacher post for Barrhead High was unable to identify a successful candidate to take over the post at this time. However it clearly would have been very difficult in any case for anyone to have come in and taken over at this point with the current situation. 

I have now, in consultation with ERC, offered to postpone my retirement until the summer and to continue in post at this time, and this has now been agreed. I would have found it very difficult to walk away from the school at this time.

I am happy to be still working with the staff, pupils and parents of the Barrhead High community and am confident of your ongoing support during the challenging period ahead of us for a little while longer.

I am just hoping that the Parent Council are not looking for the chocolates back –  this lockdown has done nothing for my diet!!

Mr Sinclair 

Please see the latest update from East Renfrewshire Council about keeping healthy. And remember, all the information below is still relevant and active. Health and Wellbeing Update 3

Need to Chat?

Any pupil needing someone to chat with over the difficult days and weeks ahead can contact our Social Justice Manager Raymond Weir. Raymond  is a great listener and can provide practical support strategies to promote good mental health. You can contact Raymond by emailingWeirRA@barrhead.e-renfrew.sch.uk Please leave your name and contact number and Raymond will be in touch.

Some Useful Links:

Living Life to the full: Free online courses covering low mood, stress and resilience. Work out why you feel as you do, how to tackle problems, build confidence, get going again, feel happier, stay calm, tackle upsetting thinking and more. https://llttf.com/

Children and Young People: www.youngminds.org.uk Parent helpline; 08088025544

Mental Wellbeing and COVID-19 – SAMH – www.samh.org.uk

How to look after your mental health – www.mentalhealth.org.uk

General Anxiety:  www.anxietyuk.org.uk  Text service 07537416905

East Renfrewshire have also produced a document to support mental and physical health: Health_and_Wellbeing_for_pupils_and_parents

Following the Prime Minister’s and First Minister’s broadcasts tonight, it is very clear that it is even more essential that we minimise the numbers of pupils and staff coming into schools to help reduce the social contact across the country in an attempt to slow down the spread of COVID-19.

Our procedures for supporting Key Workers came into play today. However with the very small numbers involved, both in Barrhead High and across the authority, it has now been decided to close all secondary schools from this Wednesday (25^th Mar).

The arrangements to support  Key Workers will still in place but any Barrhead High pupils will from Wednesday be accommodated in Carlibar Primary as the Hub School for all primary and secondary pupils meeting the criteria across Barrhead.

We will follow strictly the guidelines that this offer is only open when both parents fall into the categories identified by the Scottish Government and only during periods when they are both at work.

Only the pupils identified as meeting the criteria should attend school and even in that case, only as a last resort.

Many of you have already made alternative arrangements and I appreciate that. If this is not possible, and you do meet the criteria and still require to send your child, please contact the school or email me directly on

sinclaira@barrhead.e-renfrew.sch.uk

so we can plan to have staff present in Barrhead High tomorrow and then at Carlibar to cover this from Wednesday.

If anyone’s requirements change over the course of the weeks ahead, please email me directly on my school email.

Mr Sinclair

Teaching staff are working hard to ensure that learning and teaching continues as much as possible in these challenging times. All of our teachers and young people have been using Google Classroom and Show My Homework for the last two years, so we are well prepared to make use of these online resources to continue supporting all Barrhead High pupils.

All pupils in S1-S3 should be logging in regularly and completing the work assigned to them by their teachers. It is important, the longer this situation continues, that pupils do not have a gap in their learning. This is particularly critical for pupils in S3 as they move towards national qualifications.

S4 and S5 pupils should also continue to log-in frequently to ensure they are up to date with all ongoing learning, and are preparing for their return to school. Initially we would encourage them to revise and consolidate this session’s work, particularly for subjects they plan to continue into next session. Although there will now not be any exams, it is important that young people still move forward from this session with the command on their work that the preparation for exams would normally produce.

There are two guides attached below, both of which are very helpful in ensuring parents and carers fully understand the use of Glow tools and Google Classroom. If you have any concerns, please email BradleyPt@barrhead.e-renfrew.sch.uk

Mr Sinclair

Using Glow tools at home BHS

Final 2020 Parents’ Guide to Google Classroom

The national situation continues to change at a significant rate. The Scottish Government have now amended last Thursday’s guidance to say that no pupils now should be coming into any school to catch-up on SQA coursework.

As a result there will be no SQA work taking place in Barrhead High School and any pupils who were contacted last week to complete assignments, etc, should now stay away from school.

The only pupils still coming into the buildings now will be some children of Key Workers as already arranged and some pupils identified as benefitting from having in-school educational provision. All of these will have been individually contacted and no other pupil should come into school until further notice.

My apologies for a further change but this is an indication of the  seriousness of the situation and we should all be working hard at following the health guidelines issued by the Government.

Stay safe – stay healthy.

Mr Sinclair