Dear Parent / Carer,
Welcome to the last Rector’s Log of this term. I hope you and your family are keeping well!
The week that’s been…
It has been a very busy week with lots going on across the school.
On Tuesday, young people in S5 took part in an assembly led by the Safe Drive, Stay Alive community team. This was in support of ensuring that young drivers are aware of the risks of driving recklessly and the effect this can have on them, family and friends. A hard-hitting message but one I hope our young people take seriously.
On Wednesday, our amazing musical superstars had a masterclass with members of The London Chamber Ensemble Quartet, generously funded by Kirkcaldy Music Society. Young people got the chance to play alongside our guests as well as ask lots of questions, gleaning many tricks and tips along the way. A fantastic opportunity for all.
On Thursday, learners from S1 – S6 were involved in a focus group, alongside young people from the other Kirkcaldy Secondary Schools. The focus of this was to learn more from young people on the changes to the school week, what was working well and what we could do to improve across the locality. Young people were supported by Mrs Duckett and Mr Sanderson from KHS and colleagues from the other Kirkcaldy schools. Special thanks to Mrs Duckett who organised this and made everyone fell welcomed to KHS.
On Friday, we held Christmas assemblies for each of our houses, led by the Guidance team. Our Rights group were fully involved in delivering our Christmas message, alongside Adrian and Chris who helped to share the meaning of Christmas for them as well as some corny dad jokes!!! As ever, our amazing musicians held everything together with some outstanding pieces. A huge thanks to all young people, staff and presenters for a very festive end to the week.
As ever, you can read more about all the goings on in our blog.
Over the course of this week, we welcomed back Ms Brown (Home Economics) and Mrs Whyte (PT Humanities and Skills) who both returned following their maternity leave. From January, some teacher changes will take place in Home Economics and RME as a result.
A wee update from Ms Black and our Supported Learning department:
“S1 have continued in Literacy with their Creative writing, and we are loving the imaginative stories and language, great work. They’ve been working on area and perimeter in maths including some Christmas shape challenges. SLD2 have been working on the area and perimeter of triangles this week. Lots of good learning and using multiplication, addition and division skills. Pupils have been teaching each other and have been very good at helping each other. SLD4 and 5 have been working together in Geography with Mr Broadway to understand a sense of place.
Like the rest of the school mock coursing is being undertaken by S2, 4 and 5 and they have or will have letters home for you to discuss and contribute your thoughts to their future learning. Great to see young folk knowing where they are with their learning and feeling confident in what their next steps should be. Like many homes and parts of the school Christmas is underway in Supported Learning, with music being practiced, decorations up and today, festive attire on! Wait till you see how festive SLD1 look.
Christmas is most definitely not the only occasion being celebrated in SLD this week. We all wish Miss Abbi many, many happy returns and birthday wishes as Abbi celebrated her 18th birthday this week. Abbi is our first learner in our enhanced support provision to turn 18 and as a fantastic role model for our younger students it seems apt that Abbi leads the way. Happy birthday!”
House Point totals for the week and session so far are as below:
This weeks total:
Adam Smith – 27
Carlyle – 16
Oswald – 66
Overall total:
Adam Smith – 2113
Carlyle – 2213
Oswald – 2216
Well done to all!
Finally, please find a letter to parents / carers and young people from Maria Lloyd (Head of Service for Secondary Schools) with an update on the SQA appeals outcome for 2024. In addition, please check out the information on-line about the Kirkcaldy Foodbank Christmas appeal.
The week ahead…
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.
Ahead of this, we have our associated primary P7s attending on Tuesday afternoon for a sneak preview of this concert.
Last day of term is Friday and will be a non-uniform day. As always, we ask for a small donation, if that is possible, to support worthwhile causes in the community. School finishes at 1.05pm on Friday and we re-open as normal on Monday 6th January 2025.
I hope you have a restful and enjoyable weekend when it comes.
Best wishes,
Chris McKay
Rector
13 December 2024
