Dear Parent / Carer,
Welcome to this weeks Rector’s Log. I hope you and your family are doing well!
The week that’s been…
It has been a very busy week here at KHS with new timetables and examinations!
On Monday, all learners in S1-3 moved into their new year groups and classes. Learners received their timetables last Friday and were straight to work with their new teachers and classes. The change of timetable has been very positive so far and learners have been keen to engage in the new experiences. For learners in new S3, they have started to undertake study in courses that they choose for the first time. Well done to everyone for a smooth change of timetable this week. A special thanks to Mrs Hamilton, Mrs Lowson and the admin team for lots of work and preparation to make this happen.
The SQA examinations have continued this week with Mathematics book ending our week with Higher on Monday and Applications of Mathematics taking place today. In addition, we have had Design and Manufacture, Engineering Science, Physics and more! Well done to all our young people involved for their continued determination and application!
On Tuesday, we had the last PACK meeting of the session with Laura Frew and Tricia Hunter stepping down from the roles of Chair and Secretary respectively. At the meeting, I shared several updates from our school including our improvement plan progress, staffing, timetable change and more. I would also like to thank Laura and Tricia publicly for all their work on behalf of families and KHS in their formal roles. I will update you with those taking on roles for next session in due course.
As always, you can read more about all the goings on in our blog.
A wee update from Ms Black and our Supported Learning department:
We have had a lovely buzz with much smiling and lots of engaged learners getting straight into their new timetables in Supported Learning. Lots of positive comments about being taught by different teachers. Mr Broadway’s best bit of the week is that he is teaching Geography to each of our classes and getting to work with all learners.
As well as this, in our new SLD2 class they have been enjoying rhyming games, work and stories with Miss Black; some of us identifying rhyming words and some of us creating work with rhyming couplets. With Mrs Phillips they have been looking at Personal Hygiene, creating some practical demonstrations to show the spread of germs and thinking why and how we look after ourselves and others. With Mr Caldwell in SLD3 and 4 they were looking at Internet Security and how we keep ourselves and our data safe online. All learners have Outdoor Learning and whilst it is sunny this week we will be out all year in all weathers as long as it is safe and appropriate to do so. Our young people are involved in the planning and for identifying how we know we have achieved. Finally, our department Get Together is now Monday P1 and we look forward to starting the week together.
Mrs Gibb has asked me to share the following from our Equalities group:
‘Kirkcaldy High School is a unique learning environment in many ways, with one feature being the vastness of our cultural make up; we have 36 languages spoken at KHS, which makes the school a diverse and special place to be.
To celebrate this, our Equalities group are looking to celebrate a “Country of the Month”, where we focus on some of the feature of that country in our work across the school.
For the month of May, our young people have decided to focus on our very own Bonnie Scotland! We are encouraging all staff and young people to greet each other with “Hiya”, and we will share some facts with them via our Blue Bulletin. We also plan to host a celebratory event. For Scotland, we will be sharing some Irn Bru based foods with our young people to highlight this, uniquely Scottish product.’
The week ahead…
Next week, SQA examinations continue, and we continue with the new timetable. Over the coming weeks, we will be speaking to our learners about our current school improvements and asking them for their thoughts on the next stages of our journey.
I hope you and your family have a great weekend!
Best wishes,
Chris McKay
Rector
