Dear Parent/Carer
I hope you are well and looking forward to the weekend.
Last Friday evening turned out braw! It was the “Friends of Kirkcaldy High School” ceilidh – a terrific community night out which raised about £2600 to be used to support school activities in the year ahead. From June, there will be no charge for Home Economics and CDT materials for pupils entitled to free meals and we will also be able to subsidise trips for families facing hardship throughout next session. It was especially nice to see so many former pupils from the past three years or so back in school enjoying the dancing.
Our assemblies this week looked at “learner journeys” and I must thank William Rae, Grace Pierce and Liam Sinclair (all S6), who shared their successes and failures, and hopes and dreams. They were inspirational – you can check out the short video clips on “Twitter”. This morning our S6 had another inspirational talk from Mrs Lindsay, our Business Manager, who described her learning and career path, which includes returning to learning as an adult. I’m sure that our young people gained much from hearing about the changes of direction which have been a feature of Mrs Lindsay’s career.
The other element of our assemblies was an input from Shauni Boyd and Rachel Stoddart (both S5) raising awareness of the upcoming Scottish elections in which 16 and 17 year olds will have a vote for the first time. We are holding voter registration events in school and all eligible young people should bring a note of their national insurance number if attending any of the events.
Last Tuesday we had “Sexperts” health awareness sessions for S3, led by our S5 Peer Educators. On Wednesday, our Sports Leaders officiated at the Disability Sport Fife Badminton at Kirkcaldy Leisure Centre and were once again given full marks by the organisers. Last night our “Energy Hub” students had another after hours session with Darren Peattie of “Inside Energy”. This programme has greatly enhanced awareness of engineering opportunities in off-shore oil and gas and renewable energy and is just one of the strands of our “STEM” and employability drive. Yesterday and today we also held our SQA Hospitality exams.
On that theme, I enclose a copy of our “Easter School” calendar. I must thank all the staff who are prepared to devote time during the break, and also encourage all exam candidates in S4-6 to get along when they can. Sessions start at 9.30am throughout the holidays. You’ll know about our “Saturday School” programme too? Tomorrow is the turn of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Next week we’ll have Scottish themed learning for S3 classes and house assemblies with a talk by our school chaplain, Rev Ken Froude. On Monday, we have four S3 French students attending the Scottish Parliament for the finals of the “Our Europe” film making competition. Good luck to Ms Burke and the team!
Tuesday is another “Sexperts” peer mentoring session and we have a CDT trip to the Forth Replacement Crossing. It’s also the SQA Drama exams with a visiting examiner. There is another exam on Wednesday with Higher Administration and we also have a group of Modern Languages students visiting Heriot Watt University for a bi-lingual debate. In the evening we are hosting the Fife final of the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal’s Public Speaking Competition. Our speakers, Umar Mohammed and Kyle Pitcaithly, are up against Dunfermline (2 teams) and Woodmill in the final – we wish them well.
It’s a dress down day to mark the end of term on Thursday, and we are asking for a £1 donation please to dress down with a Scottish theme. All proceeds will go towards the purchase of a defibrillator for the school – this could just be a life saver in certain situations. There is also another Forth Replacement Crossing trip that day. We close at the usual time of 3.30pm and return on Monday 11 April after the Easter break.
Do have a great weekend, I will put out another update next Thursday.
All the best
Derek Allan
18 March 2016
