Dear Parent/Carer

I do you that you are doing alright. Here is the weekly news from your kid’s school.

Last week’s message explained that it was the Fife Schools Badminton Championships up at the Michael Woods Centre in Glenrothes. Mr Harrower (PE) accompanied Spencer and Owen Tuckwell, who represented the school. I am absolutely delighted to share that the Tuckwell brothers smashed it! Spencer is the S1/2 Fife Champion and Owen is the S3/4 Champion. On top of that, our guys were runners-up in the doubles. This is a fantastic achievement by the boys and I am looking forward to presenting them with special commemorative ties at an assembly soon. Mr Young and I had a good chat with Spencer and Owen earlier this week and were so impressed. They are excellent sporting ambassadors for KHS.

I also mentioned that Isha Aslam (S2) was off to Manchester last weekend for the British Muslim Awards, having been nominated in the “Young Achiever” category as part of her musical/vocal group “Jewels of Jannah”. I am thrilled to say that Isha and her friends were winners in this award category. Well done Isha!

We didn’t have a planned assembly programme this week but the Hall was well used for S3 “catch up” vaccination sessions on Tuesday. That same day, Miss Malcolm took our netball squad to the Fife Championships and both our teams did well with all players conducting themselves impeccably. I’m also aware that three of our S6 pupils were excellent supporters on the day. Cara Turner, Rachel Barclay and Morgan Sinclair assisted with arrangements, supervising and refereeing, and were terrific. Also on Tuesday, after school, we had another mentoring session for S5 students studying Highers. Many thanks to all the members of “Friends of Kirkcaldy High School” who support our young people in this way. It is proven that it helps them stay “on track”.

On Tuesday evening it was a regular KHS Parent Council meeting. Chairperson Gillian McIntyre oversaw an agenda with our parental engagement survey as the main item. Please see the attached notes from Gillian … and many thanks for your feedback in the survey. Special thanks to Miss Hay, who oversaw this exercise. The main issue seems to be that you would like to know a bit more about what your son/daughter is learning in class in order to be able to support them at home. We’ll work in this in the next few weeks. We also discussed our plans to redesign our “Curriculum Rationale”. This is the underpinning statement which explains what we are trying to achieve collectively as a school. I will be in touch in the next few weeks to seek your opinion on our plans.  By and large, these will focus on helping our young people to do better in terms of qualifications, and this might mean different routes to recognition, rather than the SQA exams above all else. Gillian has asked me to share a wee note from the meeting;

Thanks to everyone who made it along to our Meeting on Tuesday. We managed to cover a lot of ground.

And many thanks to Miss Hay for all her hard work in creating the parental survey, putting it out to parents then collating the results. It was really very useful to see what people thought about their communication and engagement with KHS. The results and the analysis were most interesting.

Moving forwards one clear request from the responses was that parents overwhelmingly wanted to know more about the learning content their children were actually studying in their subjects. Mr Allan suggested that he would take this to his Departmental Heads and discuss ways that parents could be more aware of what their children were studying each term in order that parents could then support at home. This would be most welcome.

We shared the new prospectus for the session 2020-2021 and we all agreed that it had the right balance of a warm welcome, and enough information not to overwhelm. (The picture of the Parent Council chair might put a couple of people off though!)

Mr Allan shared with parents the comprehensive results from the recent UNICEF Rights Respecting School Visit -bravo to KHS for a well-deserved gold award!

We then explored the school curriculum rationale document and discussed ways to make it a bit more “parent friendly”. Mr Allan took on our suggestions and will be contacting parents soon to ask for parental thought on the key “drivers” for the rationale.

The date for the next meeting is 19th May 2020 at 6pm

I do hope that you can come along. As always, anything that you wish to be brought up let myself or Mr. Allan know, as well as any subjects that you might find interesting or you would be keen to know more about, please just say!

Gillian

As you know, one of those “drivers” is our desire to ensure that our most vulnerable young people have a fair chance of entering the job market on leaving KHS. On this particular theme, I am delighted to share that we have recruited a new member of staff with that specific aim in mind. Welcome to Matthew Ritchie, who will join us shortly and has extensive experience of linking with employers, training agencies, further education providers and voluntary organisations to deliver “positive destinations” for our young people.

On the Wednesday, Mrs Hamilton (Depute) organised for a training agency called “Live’n’Learn” to come in to deliver study skills sessions for all S3. Some of the trainers have a background in sports psychology and similar related fields and I am delighted to report that these sessions went very well. It’s a common complaint that young people raise, the perceived inability to organise their studies. We are optimistic that this particular yeargroup now have an extra insight into that key skill. There was a strong focus on maintaining a positive attitude and being well organised.

We also performed at the Fife Festival of Music on Wednesday and Thursday this week, with performances taking place at the Adam Smith Theatre. I am so proud of Mrs Duckett, Mr Duncan, our Music Instructor team and all our young people who were part of this. The adjudicators were especially impressed by our choir, describing the programme as “a joy”. You will find some short video clips on “Twitter” (photo below)

After school on Wednesday, our U16 football team took on St Ninian’s High School of Kirkintilloch in the quarter final of the Scottish Shield. In what was a very close match, which could have either way, KHS lost out 3-1. Very well done to our lads, thanks to Mr English and Mr I’Anson and good luck to St Ninian’s in the semis.

Also on Wednesday, Logan Piotrowicz, Callum Campbell, Josh Calderwood, Ryan Peter and Scott Moffat sat the qualifying exam for the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship Programme. Best wishes to them all, and many thanks to Mr Fulton (Teacher of Design Technology), who is our Arkwright link. These Scholarships are the most prestigious scheme of their kind in the UK. We will hear soon whether our applicants are through to the next stage.

Yesterday we had a special assembly for S5 to publicise the opportunities offered by the Sutton Trust. This is a charity which promotes wider access to Higher Education. The Trust runs summer schools at most UK Universities (and some overseas), and they make free places available for young people from working class families. Mr Dick introduced John Hamilton and Caitlin Tindal, who attended the Cambridge and St Andrews Summer Schools last year. Also yesterday, we staged the Intermediate UK Mathematics Challenge. This is the largest Maths competition in the UK. Many thanks to Miss Cunningham, organiser. Also, we had Abbi Forrester and Stuart Olding (photo below) taking part in the Disability Sport Fife Cross Country at the Beveridge Park. Both did very well in this event and it was my pleasure to be able to congratulate them, along with Principal Teacher of Supported Learning Mrs Squires, in my Office yesterday afternoon.

Last night, our LGBT+ Group were out and about again, this time involved in a discussion about equality issues in schools, hosted by Edinburgh University. This ties in well with LGBT History Month. Later in February we will hold our Equality and Diversity Assemblies (from Monday 17). At Edinburgh, as usual, our young people were brilliant advocates for fairness and understanding. I am so proud of them all, and also of Dr Paul Murray, our lead teacher. Our “Rainbow Crew” are an absolute credit to the school.

As I finish this message, Mrs Bruce and Mr McPherson are heading off to the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh with a group of S5/6 to see “Mouthpiece”, an edgy drama about class and the cultural divide in Edinburgh. It’s a highly acclaimed work which was well received at the Festival last year.

Tomorrow’s SQA Saturday School sessions are for those taking National 5 or Higher in Computing Studies or Physical Education. Then, on Sunday evening, our languages trip to France departs. Merci bien to Mrs Morris, Mrs Hamilton, Mr Spink, Miss Rae and Mrs Wallace who will look after a large group of students. They will stay at Chateau de Warsy in Picardy (which is an actual chateau!) and day trips include visiting the battlefields of the Somme where they will be laying a poppy wreath at the grave of a former pupil of KHS who died in the Great War and is buried at Albert. Sgt John Leitch was only 20 years old when he was killed in action on 28 July 1916 whilst serving in the Black watch. There is also a visit to Paris scheduled. It’s so important that our young people get the chance to travel and experience different cultures, both European and global.

Next week is a short week with the In-Service Training Day on Wednesday and holidays on Thursday and Friday. On our staff training day, we will have an emphasis on support for young people with mental health challenges. Mrs Kendrick, our mental health “Champion” is leading an all staff session in the morning.

In the refectory, next week’s hot meal choice will be; Monday: Lentil Soup, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Tuesday: Scotch Broth, Chicken Tikka, Rice and Naan. We also have baked potatoes, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, panini, sandwiches, filled rolls, salad and bakery items available every day as well as our outdoor snack bar. Please do be aware that we offer a free cup of soup with bread for all our young people, regardless of their “free school meals” status. There is also our “Breakfast Club” (sponsored by Stephens the Bakers) available from 8.10am and this is completely free for those facing hardship. We have cereal, toast and jam and juice on offer. Lunchtime meals are priced at £2.20 for pupils, and this is the value of the “free meal” entitlement. Main courses are £1.55, and desserts are priced at £0.65. Please call if you are facing financial hardship and would appreciate help to apply for free meals. You should ask for Mrs Hardie (Family Link Worker).

Can I leave you with another reminder about our annual fundraising ceilidh, organised by FoKHS? This takes place in our Assembly Hall on Friday, 6 March. It’s always a terrific evening with dancing to the Bert Pozzi Band, a fish supper from Valente’s and a cash bar. It’s our main community social event of the year and is one of the reasons why FoKHS managed to donate over £6500 to support the school last session. To reserve tickets, please call 01592 583405 and ask for Mrs Davidson (Depute).

And finally, it gives me great pleasure to share with you that, as a result of our success in the Kingdom FM “Local Hero Awards”, KHS has been invited, by the Lord Lieutenant of Fife, to send a delegation of staff to the Royal Garden Party, hosted by the Queen at Holyrood House on 1st July this year. We have identified a group of staff who have served our school with distinction over a long period of time, and who will represent Kirkcaldy High School at this event. This group comprises teaching, support, cleaning and kitchen staff. In my opinion, it’s an occasion which is fair recognition for the Kingdom’s “Best School”. Well done to teachers Mrs Davidson, Mrs Docherty, Mr Hamilton, Dr Murray, Mrs Nelson and Ms Young and also Mrs Park (kitchen staff), Mrs Wood (Pupil Support) and Mrs F McCowat (Cleaner), who comprise the group representing the school.

Please get in contact if you require any support or advice, or if anything about our work is of any concern. As you know, we are responsive to the needs of our community, it’s something which we value very highly.

Yours truly,

 

Derek Allan

RECTOR

7 February 2020