Dear Parent/Carer
Happy New Year! Here’s to 2021. Although it has got off to a bumpy start with such serious public health restrictions limiting our daily lives and the education of our kids, I’m sure that there are enough hopeful signs that this can become a good year … a year of recovery.
Let’s just be sure about what is going on here. For almost all of our young people, Scotland’s schools have closed as physical learning spaces in order to help restrict the transmission of a deadly virus. We must all remember that this is the life or death basis of the decision. It’s goal number one. At the same time, we see it as our collective mission to work to maintain the wider health and wellbeing, including the mental health, of our young people, their families and all school staff. The third of our goals is to keep young people in touch with learning. This will inevitably be quite different to classroom learning and it is largely addressed online.
I’m sure that you are aware of what’s broadly expected over the coming weeks, but just in case, I’ll recap. From Monday (11 January) until Friday (29 January) at the earliest, the vast majority of young people will not be educated in school buildings. To avoid the potential spread of the Covid virus, they are subject to the same “stay at home” orders as the wider population. There are a few exceptions. These are the children of “keyworkers”, determined by quite strict criteria, and vulnerable young people with exceptional needs. Yesterday and today we have been operating a small scale provision in the school to support those kids. From Monday, we are anticipating that we will have up to 20 or so young people in school most days. I am indebted to Mr Broadway (Head of Supported Learning), who has quickly organised all of this provision with great professionalism and commitment, supported by Mrs Squires (Principal Teacher) and other key staff.
For those at home, we are providing a home learning programme which is largely based online using “Microsoft Teams”. Every young person has access to this platform via their “GLOW” account. If they are having difficulty with access, they (or you) can seek online support from Miss Samfat, our Principal Teacher of Digital Learning. Miss Samfat’s email is: gw14samfataline@glow.sch.uk. Sometimes, teachers might use live video and I would remind you that this will require your consent. You can give this by completing the form sent up by Mrs Hamilton here;
We have also been busy distributing digital devices (Chromebooks, laptops and tablet computers) to families who have explained that they are finding it difficult to engage in online learning. We might even be able to help with wifi (by providing a “dongle”) or accessing additional mobile data. You’ll appreciate that these types of resources are not unlimited, however we are keen to help those in greatest need. Mr Jones, Head of Social Subjects, is taking a lead on this and I am very grateful for his involvement in this important aspect of our work at this time. Please contact him at gw13jonesandrew3@glow.sch.uk to discuss possible help on offer. As I say, please do bear in mind that families with the greatest need (eg those qualifying for free meals) will be given priority. It is also the case that almost all of the Chromebooks have now been collected or delivered. However, we still ask that you are in touch, we should be able to help in some way or other.
Even without online access, I’m hopeful that home learning can be a significantly better experience this time around. For example, every day from Monday, the BBC Scotland channel will be broadcasting a broad range of very good learning content from 10am with loads of high quality secondary content available on iplayer. Check out what’s available here;
You can have Maths with Sanjeev Kohli or even exercise hints from Judy Murray. We also know that some kids work best using paper resources. If you would prefer that, please contact us and we can arrange for delivery.
To support home learning we will once again be placing free books, resources, jotters and other stationery in three locations in Templehall: Malkha’s on Dunearn Drive, USave in the Valley and Templehall Co-op. These will be available for free from the start of next week.
During the Spring lockdown, we set up an emergency Guidance “hotline” system with families being sent a mobile phone contact number. This time round it’s different with our school office operating (albeit with a skeleton staff) during office hours. Should you need family support eg a welfare, learning or other concern, please call 01592 583405 during the day or email; Kirkcaldyhs.Enquiries@fife.gov.uk at other times.
I mentioned mental health earlier and it’s clearer by the day that us all keeping well within ourselves and within our heads is so important when we face such a challenging and uncertain future. It’s stressful. I feel it, you feel it, we all feel it. I am very proud of our in-school staff/pupil Mental Health Group, who have collaborated to produce our own online Wellbeing Toolkit, based on Fife Council’s “Five Ways”. I think it’s brilliant. Particular credit has to go to Miss Hay of the Maths Department for all her excellent work with this.
Also, please let me emphasise that KHS is trying very hard to not add to your stress by having unrealistic expectations about “home learning”. If your son/daughter isn’t engaging well with the tasks we are setting on “Teams” or by other means, teachers might be in contact to see if we can help at all. Please don’t ever feel that you are failing your child’s future in any way. Home learning is not school. It’s a poor substitute, but we’ll work together to make it less poor as we go. There is also a clear expectation that young people undertaking SQA qualifications need to be mature enough and responsible enough to organise their own studies. This is especially important given the uncertainty about SQA certification at this time. We were all really impressed by how S4-6 got stuck in when we got back into school in August. They shouldn’t be taking their foot off the pedal now.
To help you and your son/daughter to engage as well as possible, I am expecting our Yearheads to be in touch over the weekend to give a wee outline of the expected learning outcomes for the week ahead. It won’t be especially specific as all the details are on Teams. We’ll also share details of a parent/carer “webinar” on online learning we’ll be delivering next Wednesday. Mrs Hamilton (Depute Head) and other staff will be available to you online to explain “GLOW”, how Teams works and how you can support learning as best you can. We plan to do an afternoon and evening session on “Zoom” and the Yearheads will send out joining details at the weekend. Just to remind you, the yearheads are; Mr Young (S1/2), Mrs Hamilton (S3), Miss Diamond (S4) and Mrs Davidson (S5/6). I hope you will be able to join us online for one of the sessions, it’s designed to be helpful. However, we also appreciate that not everyone will manage this, so please don’t feel guilty if that’s the case.
Finally for now, and I have to say that it’s a pleasure to close on a happy and more conventional note, welcome to the new staff joining or re-joining us this week and in the very near future. Welcome to Emily Thorburn, our new Principal Teacher of English, supporting Mrs Hume. Welcome back to Bryony Hunter (Maths and Guidance) who rejoins the team from a week on Monday and a warm welcome goes to Claire Murray, who joins our Home Economics team from 25 January.
And in closing, I am conscious that I’ve hardly mentioned SQA matters. That is only because we currently have nothing new to report. I understand that high level decisions are expected in the next week or so. I’ll share when I can. In the meantime, please do take care. I quite liked that bit of advice about behaving as if you are infectious and dangerous. Let’s keep Covid at bay until the remarkable work of all those amazing scientists around the world gets the chance to show us the light and a way out of this darkness.
Yours
Derek Allan
RECTOR
8 January 2021
