Dear Parent / Carer,
Welcome to this weeks Rector’s Log. I hope you and your family are keeping well!
The week that’s been…
The weeks are whizzing past, with lots of our amazing young people sparkling in their learning this week!
Over the course of this week, and the coming weeks, we continue to meet with our young people through a variety of focus groups, based on a range of areas in the school. It has been great to hear feedback from our young people around the curriculum, learning and teaching, our approach to equity, learner voice and many other areas. On Tuesday, I met with a group of S3 learners and discussed how they feel we support them in school and what we could improve in future.
Alongside this work on learner voice, work continues on our School Improvement Plan (SIP). Over the coming weeks, I hope to share a survey with you to gather views and help inform our improvement over the rest of the session and beyond.
On Tuesday, we had a staff collegiate session based around Autism awareness. This was the second of two sessions that have been delivered by ASIST. These sessions have been a great source of learning for our staff team, and I hope this helps to promote and support our continued drive in meeting the needs of all learners.
On Wednesday, Mark Brown, from Mark Brown Programmes met with a group of 12 young people from S2 and S3 to invite them to take part in the ‘Best of You’ programme, aimed at supporting young people to develop their confidence and inner drive for success. Mark is also working with our Principal Teacher of Curriculum group through his staff leadership course over this week and next.
Over the course of this week, Mrs Harrower, Dr Murray and other staff members have been working with and supporting a group of our young people who will lead our annual remembrance assemblies. Our young people and staff have been working tirelessly over the last few weeks and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour on Monday in what is always a very poignant occasion.
There is lots more happening here at KHS and you can read about this through our school website and blog – click here.
We continue to review and evaluate the change to our school day and have noticed a pattern of decreased attendance on a Friday. Over the past 6 school weeks, attendance on a Friday has decreased by around 3% on average. We are currently looking at the reasons for this but I would ask that for your continued support in ensuring young people attend school every day. Once I have more analysis, I will write to families with more detail.
A wee update from Ms Black and Supported Learning:
“SLD1 were very enthusiastic about their Design lessons with Mrs Geissler and we hope you enjoy their smiles and work that we have shared photographs of. We have also shared photos from the Lifeskills cookery they have been doing this week and the truffles were delicious, I wonder if any made it home?
SLD3 have been looking at Algebra in Maths and exploring the concept in different ways. Well done to Ashton H who joined in and showed off his fantastic Maths skills! Some pupils have been discussing healthy eating habits and a great discussion was had leading to the creation of a continuum of healthy food stuffs. Great working together and sharing of ideas and how they felt it best to express their thoughts.
In our Senior class they have been out into the Town Centre looking at land use and bringing their findings into the classroom for analysis. We hope you all have a fantastic weekend and look forward to seeing learners on Monday.”
Lastly, there is an updated Key Information document for you to ensure you have all the key information in one place.
House Point totals for the week and session so far are as below:
This weeks total:
Adam Smith – 156
Carlyle – 136
Oswald – 143
Overall total:
Adam Smith – 1865
Carlyle – 1780
Oswald – 1885
Well done to all!
The week ahead…
Next week, we have our annual Remembrance assemblies on Monday. Information will be in the Blue Bulletin.
On Tuesday, we have our second Parent / Carer Forum (Council) meeting starting online at 6pm. The agenda is available.
Further ahead, there is now a timetable for the S4 assessment window, starting on Monday 25th November. There is also an overview for our careers fair, taking place on Tuesday 19th November here at KHS.
Lastly, our Travel and Tourism class have organised a Non-Uniform day for Thursday, 14th November in aid of Children in Need. Further information is in our Blue Bulletin, but we would ask young people to donate £1 or whatever they can afford for this charity. We would ask that they dress appropriately for school.
I hope you have a great weekend when it comes.
Best wishes,
Chris McKay
Rector
08 November 2024
