Dear Parent / Carer,
Welcome to this weeks Rector’s Log. I hope you and your family are keeping well!
The week that’s been…
It is hard to believe that it’s the start of November already with school life moving at pace for all here at KHS!
On Monday, young people in S4-6 took part in an assembly delivered by St Andrews University. The purpose of the assembly was to share with learners’ information about the REACH programme. The programme allows learners to access extra programmes and activities to support applications for college, apprenticeships and University. More information can be found in the flyer.. Thank you to Ms Nessel for organising and supporting.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, our Humanities faculty undertook a Validated Self Evaluation (VSE) process. This included lesson observations, focus groups with young people and staff and high-quality discussion with all. This is part of our school self-evaluation processes and all faculties undertake this at least every 15 months. It was fantastic to hear some really positive messages coming through during the feedback and understand what the faculty felt the next steps would be. Well done and thank you to all involved. Next week, our Guidance team will undertake a similar process.
On Wednesday, we held our second Parent / Carer evening, this time for families of S1 learners. We had a fantastic turnout, and a nice buzz around the school. Parents and carers spoke of a very purposeful evening, gaining a good insight into both the learning of their child as well as how they are settling in to KHS. Thank you to all who attended and supported.
Also on Wednesday, we had a visit from our link Quality Improvement Officer (QIO), Dr Martin. Dr Martin spent time in KHS taking a walk around, speaking to learners and supporting our Outcomes Meeting, following the SQA results in August. Dr Martin was very impressed by our young people, the calmness in the school and the productive atmosphere that exists.
Yesterday, I spent time going around the school, in classes and speaking to one of our school captains. It is always a privilege to see the wonderful things going on and speak with our amazing young people.
A wee update from Ms Black and Supported Learning:
“Friday morning in Supported Learning was special for our S6s that joined the year group photo. You looked great in your hoodies and we cannot wait to see the photographs. Special occasions and transitions can be celebrated in so many ways and we look forward to marking these individually and collectively with our S6 team over the new few months. For our S1 learners a milestone was that we had our first KHS Parents/Carers evening together; always a pleasure to have our families in and to share their learning. We are excited to see where your learning takes you over the next 6 years.
Across the classes and year groups it’s been as busy as always in our learning. Learning in the community looking at our environment, independent living skills, some of us at College and some Outdoor Learning. In school we have been sharing events that we celebrate with our families at this time of year and learning more about them and their importance to us. To our families celebrating we wish you much safety, hope, health and happiness.”
As ever, there is lots happening and you can read about much more through our school website and blog.
House Point totals for the week and session so far are as below:
This weeks total:
Adam Smith – 69
Carlyle – 98
Oswald – 79
Overall total:
Adam Smith – 1705
Carlyle – 1642
Oswald – 1738
Great to see everyone continue to do well! Well done!
I wish to thank families and young people for your support with our late-coming process. We have seen a significant improvement this week following our change in procedure and this is down to the support from everyone. Thank you!
I would also like to thank families of S1 learners who are supporting our new homework programme. Initial feedback has been positive and the engagement from all has been great. Please continue to support this important aspect of school life.
The week ahead…
Next week, we have Flu vaccinations taking place on Wednesday and the Friends of Kirkcaldy High School (FoKHS) Race Night takes place on Friday night.
From last week – Some advance notice that we will host our annual Christmas Fayre and Concert on Tuesday 17th December from 5pm. Ms Lipton has asked if you can consider donating items to create hampers & support a raffle for this. These can be handed in to reception or passed to Ms Lipton by young people. Thank you in advance.
I hope you have a great weekend when it comes.
Best wishes,
Chris McKay
Rector
