Dear Parent / Carer,

Welcome to this weeks Rector’s Log. I hope you and your family are keeping well!

The week that’s been…

This week, young people in S4 concluded their first formal assessment window. As last week, the attitude and application of our young people was fantastic – well done to everyone and I hope your hard work has been rewarded. Huge thanks to Mrs Davidson and Ms Nessel for their organisation of the formal assessments and to all staff involved in supporting.

On Tuesday, I was part of a Fife Council team visit to Calderglen High School in South Lanarkshire. The purpose of the visit was to learn from their curriculum development and course offer. It was a very informative visit with lots of areas for us to consider across Fife. It was also very re-assuring from a school perspective as much of what we discussed as good practice is already happening in KHS. We will continue to listen, review, evaluate and adapt as we continue our curriculum developments.

Over Wednesday and Thursday, our Mathematics faculty have been reviewing learning and teaching through our self-evaluation processes. This included gathering views from young people, families and staff as well as learning observations and discussion. We are committed to improving the experiences and outcomes for young people in KHS and these processes help to understand where we are and what we need to continue to improve.

On Thursday evening, we held parent and carer evening for young people in S5/6. It was a well-attended evening with lots of good discussion taking place. These discussions should help provide young people and families with a clear understanding of where young people are in their learning and what they can do to improve and achieve their potential. There is lots of support in school for young people with many teachers offering supported study across the week. You can find out what’s on when from our website.

As ever, you can read more about all the goings on in our blog, including work in DET, S3 Jewellery, First Chances trip to St Andrew’s University and much more.

Finally, can I please ask that if your child has an appointment out of school that you give as much notice as possible. All details and information on how to do this are available from our Key Information sheets on the website. Thank you for your continued support.

A wee update from Ms Black and our Supported Learning department:

“This week in Supported Learning SLD1 have had a focus on a piece of imaginative writing.  Christmas themed we have used Art and Drama to enhance our literacy skills to build our characters and stories.  I cannot wait to hear and read the finished pieces next week.  SLD4 and 5 have been working together on an Enterprise project and will share the details in due course.  SLD5 have been doing some learning on Slavery.  In particular this week they have been looking at similarities and differences between slavery in the past and today.  As a department we are creating decorations for the hall for the upcoming Christmas events – snowflake design has become quite competitive for some!   Away from the classroom many of SLD1 joined the S1 school pantomime trip, oh yes they did!,  and much fun was had and hope they are full of stories.  Next week we have a basketball team out to Viewforth HS to enjoy a basketball event with our Kirkcaldy enhanced provision friends.”

House Point totals for the week and session so far are as below:

This weeks total:

Adam Smith – 52
Carlyle – 93
Oswald – 94

Overall total:

Adam Smith – 2086
Carlyle – 2190
Oswald – 2149

Well done to all!

The week ahead…

Next week, our S5s will be involved in the Safe Drive, Stay Alive presentation. This hard hitting presentation is aimed at educating and supporting young people around peer pressure related to young drivers.

On Thursday, we have representatives from each year group taking part in an early evaluation of the changes we made to the school week and curriculum. This will be a locality event with young people represented across all 4 Kirkcaldy High School.

On Friday, we will have our Christmas house assemblies with inputs from each house Guidance team, our Rights group and of course some music led by the music department.

Lastly, please find the invites to our Christmas Fayre and Concert, with both taking place on Tuesday 17th December. All are welcome to attend, with the Fayre beginning at 5pm and the concert starting at 6.30pm.

I hope you have a restful and enjoyable weekend when it comes.

Best wishes,

​

Chris McKay

Rector

06 December 2024