Dear Parent/Carer

We’ve had a good, solid start to the new term and I’m indebted to all the staff for their dedication and professionalism in difficult circumstances. Our school is clearly nothing like “normal” but collectively, we are working hard to make it the lively and supportive learning environment we are used to enjoying. By the term “staff”, I would make a point of including everyone here; the office team, support staff, technicians, kitchen staff, jannies and cleaners as well as the teachers. It takes a team to make KHS such a good school.

Welcome to the new members of the team, here on placement as student teachers. This week we’ve had Laura Callaghan in Spanish, Calum Wood  in Music, Robbie Carstairs in History, Gemma Crawford in Drama and Danielle Gray, also in Drama. Next week we’ll be joined by Keren Arlow in Art and Abbi Gilfillan in CDT. I’m sure that their experience at KHS will be a rich one and help prepare them well for a worthwhile and satisfying career ahead.

At the start of the week, it was my pleasure to contact Kirkcaldy Foodbank to make a £700 donation on behalf of the school. This was from the “Dress Down” on the last day of last term. Thanks for supporting this. We also changed some of our day to day arrangements this week to try to minimise pupil contact, especially across yeargroups. I’m pleased to say that the move away from mixed “Tutor” groups has been managed well and that the slightly shorter lunch does not appear to have any negative impact as far as we can determine.

These are our latest COVID mitigations and I’d really appreciate you emphasising the health and safety risks with your kids at home. We really need to promote the best hand hygiene, the wiping down of workspaces, mask wearing and keeping a distance from the adults. A wee chat and reminder about these things would be really helpful. We are also advising staff to open windows and doors whenever possible. This keeps clean air flowing and can disperse any virus particles suspended in the air. It also means that room temperatures can be negatively affected, so an extra layer of clothing such as a jumper or cardigan is advised. Also, please continue to keep your son or daughter off school and book a test should they show any symptoms at all. Across the week past, we’ve had an average of 15 or so such situations reported to us daily. Thanks for calling in and keeping us “in the loop”.

I mentioned the staff at the start of this message and will end on a happy note in connection to one of our teachers. Congratulations to Miss Cunningham of the Maths Department, who managed, after a few COVID related false starts, to get married in the October break. Miss Cunningham’s new name is Mrs Christie.

Thanks, as always, for your ongoing support. Best wishes, have a good Halloween weekend.

Derek Allan

RECTOR

30 October 2020