Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to the KHS news. I hope that you are doing alright, and totally understand if at times, you are not.

Pandemic business first, and there is a little bit of positive news for schools. You are likely aware that, following an announcement by the First Minister on Tuesday, primary schools are now planning for a return from 22 February for children in P1 to P3, and for children in early learning and childcare settings. In addition, a part time return for some students in S4 to S6 was announced from the same date, on a very limited basis, for in-school practical work that is essential for completing SQA qualifications. Education Scotland and the SQA will define “practical aspects” for secondaries, and this information is expected to be published soon. Two metre physical distancing for adults and pupils will be required in secondary schools, and all of this is subject to final confirmation by the Scottish Government on 16 February.

The First Minister also announced a significant expansion of asymptomatic testing for school staff, and senior phase pupils, and we are now beginning to receive information. This won’t start until we have staff and pupils back in school but I understand that all will be asked to undergo “lateral flow” testing at home twice weekly.

Pupils in P4-7 and S1-3 will still be engaged in home learning for the time being. In reality, most S4-6 will be doing that for most of the time too. The “practical aspects” will strictly be the essential coursework which just can’t possibly be done at home (eg woodwork skills in a workshop etc). We have been advised that the numbers in school at any given time must be very limited for now. Over the next wee while, we’ll be working out how best to organise this new development and will publish a calendar before the half term break (17-19 February). As I say, not all will be involved, and I should explain that it might have a minor impact on the home learning offer in some cases. Staff who are in school delivering SQA practical learning will find it difficult to devote so much time to home learning, and being in school will break up what a pupil can do at home, but we are exploring ways of getting around this. We don’t think it will be a huge problem given the very small numbers who will be allowed into school.

I suppose that’s the big news, but it’s also been Children’ Mental Health week this week and it’s well worth me sharing the widespread concerns we all have. It’s clear that many of our young people are suffering from significant anxiety, worry and even despair as a result of “lockdown”. This week we’ve had a team of senior staff contacting home to see if we can support young people to keep engaged in learning, and the clear feedback we are getting is that many families are struggling right now.

There is no obvious, quick or simple solution. Mental health is complex and often fragile. However, the universally agreed view is that it’s good to open up about our feelings, and by doing that we always find that we are not alone. I have signposted our own “KHS Mental Health Toolkit” before and given that it’s such an excellent resource, I’ll do it again here;

As you know, at KHS we take your health and wellbeing very seriously, and this includes your mental health. While you are at home or in school it is important that you continue to look after your mental health. This KHS Mental Health Toolkit shares information about the 5 Ways of Wellbeing and links to different support networks to help you do this. Twitter Handles: @MentalKHS @KHS_guidanceKHS @ec_KHS @KHS_PEDept @KhsPso @KHS_LGBT

This really is a terrific piece of work with sections specifically relevant to online learning and a section for parents/carers too. Please check it out. I’m very grateful to all the staff and young people who designed this, especially our own Miss Hay of the Maths Department.

We’ve also picked up that some of you would welcome the chance to network with other parents/carers to share online learning tips and perhaps to just know that it’s not only you who is struggling with all of this. May I point you in the direction of “Connect”? It’s a fantastic support network which used to be known as the Scottish Parent Teacher Council. The group has a great online presence on Twitter @connect_scot with a very useful website here;

I do hope that these links are of value, and we have one final offer. Miss Samfat, Miss Nessel and Mrs Morris, with input from Mrs Hamilton, have agreed to run another “online” learning workshop for parents/carers next Wednesday evening (at 6pm). We did this in January and it was very well attended and evaluated. We’ll again have a focus on the use of Microsoft Teams. Please see the email for the joining details on Zoom. Also, I’d be grateful if you could use the form (link below) to tell us if there is anything specific you would want us to cover, and it needn’t only be about Teams. If you have any problem with the form, a reply to the email will do fine.

We understand how challenging online learning is for young people and their parents/carers. This meeting will be a chance for you to let us know about some of the challenges you are facing in terms of using Glow and Teams. If there is anything in particular you would like us to cover please let us know and we can plan around this.

We also have another P7 Parent/Carer evening at 6pm on Monday. This is for those making a placing request. Please be in touch if you want to join us and ask anyone you know who is considering KHS from August to do the same. Mr Young will arrange for joining details (again on Zoom) to be sent out. Thanks.

Another piece of staff news to finish. We extend a very warm welcome to Neil Ritchie, who is our new Principal Teacher of Craft, Design and Technology, working alongside Mr Hamilton for this term. Mr Ritchie joins us from Bell Baxter High School with a wealth of experience and although it’s the strangest of times to be changing schools like this, he is already greatly enjoying working with the Supported Learning pupils in KHS. This group continues to be taught in school and I am indebted to all the staff, led by Mrs Squires and Mr Broadway, who are continuing to provide learning for our young people with the highest levels of additional needs.

Please do be in touch if we can help out in any way and please reply with suggestions for our online learning parent/carer “training”. Above all, please take care in the broadest sense. Of course we are trying to suppress a killer disease and stay connected with learning, but we all need to maintain good mental health too. Look after yourself. Please don’t blame yourself if you are struggling and sometimes feeling low. I assure that we all are … but we’ll get there.

All the very best to you

Derek Allan
RECTOR
5 February 2021