Please find below a copy of the email issued to S1-S5 parents this afternoon.

Dear parent,

As you will be aware, the First Minister announced the phased reopening of schools in her speech last week, allowing for some transitions work to take place with next year’s S1 cohorts in the latter part of June in addition to Hub provision for vulnerable pupils and the children of keyworkers.  All schools will reopen on 11^th August and pupils will attend school in a blended learning model with children spending part of the week in school and part of the week learning at home.  Tuesday 11^th and Wednesday 12^th August will be in-service days, with pupils returning from Thursday 13^th August.  We are now finalising the details for our August return, including timetables and practical arrangements, and I hope to be in a position to provide you with fuller information about your child’s return to school within the next week or two.  In the meantime, the following may be of interest.

NETHERLEE HUB

Pupils currently attending Hub schools will return to their base schools with effect from Monday 8^th June.  My thanks to Netherlee Primary School for their hospitality over the past ten weeks.

GOOGLE CLASSROOMS

Pupils’ engagement with Google Classrooms and the quality of the work they have been producing has been impressive, and your support in encouraging your child to engage fully in learning is greatly appreciated.  As you will be aware, staff in all subjects ask that pupils formally submit a piece or work each week to allow staff to gauge pupils’ engagement and progress.  Should a pupil repeatedly fail to engage with the work set, parents will be contacted to make them aware of any concerns.  I would remind you, however, that pupils are not expected to be online continuously during normal school hours.  A number of tasks are ‘open-ended’ and pupils can spend as much time on them as they choose.  If you find that your child is spending too long on Google Classrooms each day, please contact the relevant pupil support teacher who will be happy to offer advice.

A blended approach to education provision will be adopted when pupils return, with learners spending part of their time in school and part of their time learning at home.  Online learning will therefore continue to be a key feature of pupils’ learning.  This blended approach is likely to continue until the end of the calendar year at least.

Please remember that GLOW (and Google Classrooms) is a platform for pupils and teachers only and should not be accessed by parents or other family members.

P7 TRANSITIONS

For those of you with children in P7 who will be joining us in June, I am pleased that a limited transition experience will be able to go ahead.  During the final two weeks in June, pupils will be invited to visit the school in small groups to meet with their year head and pupil support teacher and to take part in some classroom lessons.  Mrs Gibson will write to you tomorrow to invite your child to take part.

SQA

We have completed the process of producing estimate grades for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher candidates in all subjects, ranking candidates based on evidence gathered over the course of the session.  SQA will now consider all of the statistical information available to them and remain committed to publishing examination results as planned on Tuesday 4^th August 2020.  I have attached some information for parents published by SQA which summarises the process.   https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93825.html

RENEGOTIATION OF SUBJECT OPTIONS

Each year, following publication of SQA results, some of our pupils wish to change their subject options for S5 or S6.  We would usually set aside a particular date during the last week of the summer holiday for pupils to come to school to discuss any options changes.  This year, pupils will be asked to request changes to their subjects by email.  Those who require advice from pupil support staff or from our careers advisers will of course still be able to access that advice as normal.

VOCATIONAL COURSES

Senior pupils who secured places on ERC vocational courses will be advised of decisions affecting those courses as soon as the information becomes available from the colleges involved.  I understand that the Level 8 Human Body Structure and Function course will begin online learning in the next few weeks.  Mrs Sinclair will contact the relevant pupils directly with further information.

HEAD BOY / HEAD GIRL ELECTIONS

Campaigns for these positions will take place in June, and depute positions will be allocated in August.  Our new S6 pupils should continue to follow the S6 Google Classrooms page run by Mrs Sinclair where full information will be posted.

TIMETABLE CHANGE

Our final yeargroup to change timetable is S1.  S1 pupils will follow their S2 timetables with effect from Monday 8^th June.  Google Classroom codes will be posted on the school website as usual, and on the S1 yeargroup Google Classroom page.  Pupils should remember to join Google Classrooms (or Teams in the case of DAT) for their new rotation subjects as detailed below:

	GOOGLE CLASSROOMS FOR NEW S2 CLASSES
Class 2A	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Art	Music	Drama	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2B	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	FTT	DAT	BICT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2C	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Art	Music	Drama	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2D	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	FTT	DAT	BICT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2E	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Drama	Art	Music	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2F	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	BICT	FTT	DAT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2G	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Art	Drama	Music	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2H	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	FTT	BICT	DAT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2J	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Drama	Music	Art	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2K	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	BICT	FTT	DAT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2L	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Art	Drama	Music	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2M	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	FTT	BICT	DAT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2N	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Music	Art	Drama	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2P	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	FTT	DAT	BICT	PE	Pup Supp	RE
Class 2Q	English	Maths	French	Social*	Science	Music	Drama	Art	PE	Pup Supp	RE

 

* Please join the appropriate social subject as follows:

	Social Subject
Class 2.1	Geography
Class 2.2	History
Class 2.3	Modern Studies
Class 2.4	Geography
Class 2.5	Geography
Class 2.6	History
Class 2.7	Modern Studies
Class 2.8	Geography
Class 2.9	History
Class 2.10	Modern Studies

 

I shall be in touch before the summer break with provisional details of our August return.  In the meantime, please pass on my best wishes to your children and let them know that we are very much looking forward to seeing them soon!

William Inglis

Head Teacher

Williamwood High School