Dear Parent/Carer

I hope that you are doing well. Here is the latest from your school. We’ve had another successful week in school, given the crazy circumstances which we continue to endure.

On Tuesday, Mrs Davidson and I met with the ten potential candidates for Head Boy and Head Girl next session. We will now organise an election process over the next couple of weeks. It will be tough to choose as I know that we have some exceptional young people in our current S5. More news of the election soon.

We also been sorting out the subject prizes, including the award of Dux of the School. Although we can’t have a ceremony as such, we will be awarding prizes and a few special awards. We’ll share prizewinner names in a fortnight or so.

On Wednesday, Mrs Hamilton and I managed to hold yeargroup meetings for S3, the closest thing we can do to an assembly right now. We had a focus on our school values and the basic expectations around uniform, mobile phones, attitude to learning and disposing of litter.

It’s been a busy week of interviews in school and I am able to share some news about our Guidance Team. Hearty congratulations to Mr Alistair Farquharson, who has been officially appointed to the position of Team Leader. Mr F has served as a member of that team for over 12 years and is exceptionally well regarded in our school and community for his compassion, commitment and leadership skills. Also, with the expected return of Mrs Hunter and Mrs Thompson from maternity leave I can confirm that Miss Fotheringham and Mrs Kerek will be continuing as temporary members of the team after the holidays. Very well done to them. This means that from August we’ll have Mrs Thompson and Mrs Kerek in Adam Smith House, Mrs Hunter and Miss Fotheringham for Carlyle and Mrs Kendrick and Mr Farquharson supporting Oswald pupils.

On that theme of “support”, I thought it might be good to give a wee shout out to the pupils and staff in our Supported Learning Faculty. I continue to be so impressed by the work of Mr Broadway, Mrs Squires and all the staff team … and by the enthusiasm of our students, despite all the difficulties around the current situation. Even when our main school provision was forced to become home based between January and April, we continued to provide in school learning for our group with enhanced and complex needs. Since the break, the Faculty has had a Health and Wellbeing focus with Mr Naismith (Support Assistant) running (literally!) the “Couch to 5k” fitness programme and weekly football sessions with Disability Sport Fife, the SFA and the Raith Rovers Community Foundation. Very well done to all involved.

Our programme of in class assessments to generate evidence for SQA certification continues for S4-6 and I must commend our learners for their resilience and hard work. This has been a very difficult spell for everyone involved. The teachers too are working very hard to set, mark and moderate the assessments. Please be reminded that next Thursday and Friday are additional Inset days to allow teachers to get together to agree the standards at N5, Higher and Advanced Higher. For example, our Geography teachers are working alongside staff from Balwearie with the English team hooking up with Waid Academy.

We also continue to have an ongoing focus on “positive destinations” for leavers. Thanks again to Mr Paterson for this week’s jobs update and to all the staff who are tracking and supporting leavers and potential leavers on their journey. This includes our “Skills Development Scotland” careers officers, Julie Lautredou and Pamela Murray, who are conducting careers interviews with identified S4-6 right now. It’s maybe not fair to single out individuals, but it was my pleasure to have a chat with Kyle Todd (S6) earlier this week. Kyle has gone through a very rigorous selection process and, from over 2000 applicants, has gained a place on the manufacturing apprenticeship programme with Leonardo, the multinational tech company specialising in aerospace and cyber security. They are based at Crewe Toll, over in Edinburgh. Kyle is rightly proud of his achievement and is looking forward to getting started with Leonardo. It’s a wee reminder that the apprenticeship route is well worth considering. Well done to Kyle, and to all the others going on to those positive destinations after KHS.

Sorry to have to bring up Covid to close. We have quite a few pupils isolating this week, but I am relieved that no school linked cases which would have a significant impact have been reported in the last seven days. However, due to the local prevalence of the “Indian Variant” of Covid, the isolation rules have, in some cases, been extended to include all household members of potential contacts right across the wider area (including Burntisland). This slightly raised alert level means that we can’t proceed with our proposed S1 “Picnic in the Park” next week. It also means that we won’t be hosting Primary 7 kids as part of a physical transition next week either. It’s such a shame, but I’m very grateful to Mr Young and all the staff (including support staff) who are putting together all the different strands of our “virtual” transition. We’ll also be hosting virtual parent/carer evenings with the Guidance staff once the new S1 classes are finalised. More details of this soon.

As I say, please be reminded that Thursday and Friday next week are training days with no pupils in school. Also, Monday 7 June is public holiday. The period after the holiday will have a strong focus on finalising those “provisional grades” for the SQA prior to submission by 25 June at the latest. Our last day of the term is Thursday 24 June.

As always, if you need any support with any matter, do be in touch.

All the very best to you.

Derek Allan
RECTOR