Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to the weekly news … I’m wishing you well.

This week has been a shorter one for pupils with a staff training day today. We have a focus on our “Relationships” policy, which has been undergoing a revamp and refresh. We continue to develop as a restorative school rather than one which relies on a punishment model. It’s not that actions won’t have consequences, it’s rather that we’ll always seek first to understand when things go wrong. We’ve focussed on staff training today and all next week we’ll be involving young people in the “roll out” with a sequence of activities first thing in the morning. Young people can expect a strong focus on the principles of Kindness, Honesty and Success (KHS) as the basis of all our relationships. These principles compliment or school values well. You will likely know that these are Respect for Self, Others and Learning.

Of course, the other big news (apart from Scotland’s fantastic win in Belgrade!) is that Fife has been moved to Level 3 COVID restrictions as of today. For us as a school this will mean that all “Senior Phase” students (S4-6) will be required to wear a face covering during lessons. Their teachers will do the same. In the corridors and social areas, the face covering rules still apply. This includes empty corridors between bells. It’s all about aerosol transmission and reducing virus “shedding”. I suggested that tighter restrictions might be on the way when I emailed out on Monday evening. Please ensure that your son or daughter is well equipped for school. All our young people should bring their own reusable face covering, and preferably carry a spare, every day. Please contact Guidance if there is a good reason for your son/daughter not to wear a mask eg as a result of a serious respiratory condition.

The media are reporting a rising number COVID cases across Fife schools right now. It could well be that we will require to issue self-isolation notices to groups of young people in the coming weeks. Thanks in advance for your cooperation with this. Thanks also for keeping us notified about family test results etc. Please remember that the “emergency” number is 07990108538 to make an out of hours notification. This number should only be used to report a positive test result of a pupil of KHS. 

On a completely different tack, Wednesday was the 102nd anniversary of the end of the Great War and we did our best to honour the sacrifice of the fallen and remember the futility of war at this time. As you maybe know, right at the heart of the school there are over 200 names of former pupils and staff lost in the two world wars, cast in bronze on our memorial. At 11 am we marked a 2 minutes silence. This was ended by the distant sound, heard by most as class windows were open, of Cameron Hamilton playing the “Last Post” in the playground. There were tears. At that time, poppy wreaths were laid at our war memorial by Jonathan McIntyre and Cara Hayes (Head Boy and Girl). We also laid a wreath at the Kirkcaldy Memorial last Sunday. Also, teachers showed a special video presentation, just before the silence. It’s been put together by Miss Osborne and Mrs Duckett. Thanks to them and to all our young people involved … Charlie, Rebecca, Eilidh, Magdalena and Anton. You can view our tribute below.  There is also footage and photos on Twitter @KirkcaldyHigh.

Yesterday was a “Dress Down” in support of “Children in Need” and I am very grateful to Miss Lipton and the Travel and Tourism class who organised our fundraising. As well as the “Come As You Please” we had a sponsored Duck Race and I’m delighted to report that the fantastic sum of £1000 was raised. Well done!

I also had the pleasure of presenting certificates to our S1 St Andrews First Chances students. This is an excellent programme and I am very grateful to Mr Dick and Dr Black, who are supporting our involvement. It’s a programme targeted at working class kids with no family tradition of Higher Education. Later in their school life, the group will have a residential experience at the University and be mentored in their school studies.

We have another wee snippet of staff news and it’s once again congratulations to one of our own teachers who has been promoted on a permanent basis. Well done to Miss Jodie Tennant, who is now Principal Teacher of Science and STEM. This is great news for the school. Miss Tennant will support Mr Fleming and other teachers to further develop our Science and Technology curriculum.

Next week I’ll share a bit more detail about our online Parent Council Meeting which takes place on Tuesday 24 November. One of our discussion points will undoubtedly be the SQA Qualifications for 2021. As you know, the Highers and Advanced Highers have been delayed and the National 5 exams are cancelled, with certification based on in-class assessment. Wales has recently announced the cancelling of all exams, so let’s not make assumptions that the Scottish exams will proceed as currently planned. That’s understandable given the highly unpredictable world we inhabit. However, I enclose the planned SQA timetable for info at this time.

I’m also enclosing a copy of our latest Standards and Quality Report which we produce every year. It’s been a strange session past but we still have much to be proud of. We also have much to do and our improvement plans are laid out in the report. We’ll discuss this at the Parent Council too. Other agenda items will be the revamped Relationships Policy, which features in our Improvement Plan, and all matters COVID.

Also next week, I’ll sent out potential school closure information. We do this every year as a precaution against winter weather. It’s another threat isn’t it? As if this virus wasn’t enough.

So here’s to the difficult period ahead, but we now have a wee glow of hopefulness on the horizon following the vaccine news this week. Please cross your fingers, pray, do whatever it is you do. I’m just hoping that we are not forced to into a full or some partial closure due to COVID isolation orders any time soon, but this remains a realistic scenario. Of course, finger crossing and praying are not enough. We need all our kids to keep their hands clean, cover their faces and give the adults distance. Please encourage and support them to do this. It’s a sobering thought for us to reflect that lives depend on it. COVID is a deadly serious business.

Take care

Derek Allan

RECTOR

13 November 2020